![]() This is coupled with a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar allowing it to detect more targets on the ground and at sea farther than ever before. DavisĪccording to Defense News, the B-52H fleet is in the middle of receiving new LCD displays, onboard computers, and communications links. The B-52’s cockpit looks like it is from the 1960s.because it is. Robert Burgess, 307th Operations Group commander told Defense News. If you walk in the cockpit it looks like a 1960 cockpit. The B-52H will be the longest serving warplane in history, serving longer than the newer B-1B and B-2A bombers. The Air Force plans to keep flying the remaining 76 B-52Hs through 2050, with some almost certainly flying until 2061. The old eight-engined warhorse has been in continuous service ever since, flying combat missions over the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Air Force ordered 102 B-52H bombers during the Cold War, with the first planes delivered in May 1961. The Air Force is now committing to flying the bomber into the 2050s, a feat that will require even more improvements. The B-52H fleet, already nearly 60 years old, has been the recipient of a steady but slow stream of upgrades to keep the planes useful. The big bomber is getting new radars, communications equipment, and maybe even hypersonic weapons to keep it relevant to the battlefields of the future.First flown in the early 1960s, the B-52H will see nearly a century of continuous service.Air Force’s fleet of B-52H Stratofortress bombers is receiving vital upgrades that will keep the planes battle worthy into the 2050s.
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