— As our air superiority has increased, B-52 bombers have begun to conduct their first missions into Iranian territory, said American Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Caine added that American aviation also performs more and more so-called dynamic missionsi.e. those in which pilots receive new targets already during the flight. This is probably due to the fact that Iran still has mobile missile launchers that change their location and are probably detected and targeted during night airstrikes by the American army.
B-52 – the best subsonic bomber in history
The B-52 is a bomber that, due to its size, is often called a “big fat ugly fella”. The plane can carry 32 tons of various bombs and missiles, including cruise missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers, and is a key element of the US bomber arsenal.
— B-52 bombers enter the fight when nothing can shoot them down. This is what the whole sequence looks like – B-2s attack when anti-aircraft defenses pose a lethal threat, B-1Bs when they have managed to limit their effectiveness, B-52s when enemy defenses no longer exist – wrote Shanak's analyst Anslem Perera a few weeks ago.
The B-52 arsenal in all its gloryTech. Sgt. Robert J. Horstman / Public Domain/US Air Force
The B-52 is also the oldest bomber in the US forces. It debuted in 1955, and thanks to the planned modernization, which will include, among others, new Rolls-Royce engines and an ultra-modern AESA radar, the Pentagon will use it until the 2050s. This is due to the fact that the Americans simply do not have an equally effective subsonic structure in their inventory that could replace it. It is therefore possible that the B-52 will remain in active service for up to a hundred years.
