B-52H 2017: upgraded and in action

UNITED STATES

A B-52H over the Syrian desert.
SSgt Marjorie Bowlden/US Air Force

THE BOEING B-52H Stratofortress is the oldest of the US Air Force’s three bomber types. Though the youngest of the 76 B-52s currently operational was built in 1962, the fleet will be a part of the US nuclear deterrent for decades to come while flying a wide range of conventional missions. Speaking in Washington on October 9, Secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson recounted an example of what this requires from today’s B-52 air and ground crews: “I was at Al Udeid Air Base. There were B-52s there from Minot [Air Force Base] North Dakota. They were supporting the fight against ISIS, everything from dropping leaflets to precision close air support. Danger-close air support from a B-52, which is just amazing, [shows] how the technology has changed. We were standing out on the wing, 120°F, on the flight line at Al Udeid, talking to the crew. The crew commander said, yeah, when they rotate back to Minot, ten days after they get back, they will have a nuclear surety inspection. That’s for their other mission.”

B-52H in action

The rotational B-52H deployment at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar took over missions that had been dominated by the B-1B Lancer until 2014. B-52Hs will continue to operate from Qatar until spring 2018, when they will be replaced by a detachment of B-1Bs.

B-52Hs have been a vital part of the coalition air campaign against ISIS insurgents in Syria and Iraq. This has been winding down following the defeat of ISIS; but even before this had started, Qatar-based B-52Hs had been flying combat missions over Afghanistan. Starting on November 19, B-52Hs were used, along with other coalition aircraft, to strike Taliban drug labs and what was described as commandand- control nodes in northern Helmand Province. General Robin Rand, Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command said the B-52Hs based in Qatar, refuelled by tankers based at Kandahar, are able to work with Operation Resolute Support maybe once a week: “B-52s have done more than that, depending on terrain, what our forces are doing and whether the B-52 is an appropriate platform or F-16s can handle it.”

Sustaining B-52Hs from Qatar is a challenge. Their mission-capable rate is 65%, as opposed to 74% fleet wide. A shortage of spare parts led to one of the Qatar-based B-52Hs being used as a source for parts before being restored to flight status. Despite this, the current detachment achieved some 834 consecutive sorties – and counting – without a maintenance abort.

Back in September, speaking at the Air Force Association (AFA) convention in National Harbor, Maryland, Commander, US Air Forces Central Command, Southwest Asia, Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigan said: “The B-52 is an old airplane, but, with its [Lockheed Martin AAQ- 33] Sniper targeting pod, and ability to deliver precision-guided weapons, it is an incredible platform and gives me a great capability.”

Engines

Also speaking at the AFA convention on September 19, Secretary Wilson said: “We know we are going to have to re-engine if we are going to keep the B-52 for the longer term.” The Air Force held industry days at Barksdale Air Force Base Louisiana on December 12–13 to look at options. Barksdale is home to the 2nd Bomb Wing, the largest B-52- equipped wing in the US Air Force.

B-52H Stratofortress 61-0018 takes off at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. TSgt Amy Lovgren/
US Air Force

With a B-52H re-engine programme potentially starting in FY2020, the Air Force appears to be interested in an off -the-shelf design, with the Rolls-Royce BR725, General Electric TF34-10 and Pratt & Whitney PW800 emerging as competitors, rather than upgrading the current Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofan engines. Speaking in Washington DC on November 30, General Rand said the Air Force had made a compelling case for the B-52 to remain in service for a long while and warrants being re-engined for a lot of reasons.

Yet US Air Force policy, which prefers investing in new-build airframes, has over the years made re-engining programmes rarely taken options, limited to types fitted with old engines which threatened the ability of aircraft to accomplish their missions such as the KC-135A tanker and C-5 heavy lift transport. This reflects that procurement, operations and maintenance accounts are separate lines of funding, each computed separately and never co-mingled. There is little incentive for the Air Force to spend this year’s procurement dollars to save operations and maintenance dollars in future years. A B-52H re-engining programme is far from assured.

Intakes of two TF33 engines on a Minot-based B-52H assigned to the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron on the flight line at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar on November 6, 2017. The Air Force is looking at replacing these engines in the near future.
SSgt Patrick Evenson/US Air National Guard

Armament

B-52Hs previously lacked MILSTD- 1760 data bus connectivity in their internal weapons bay and aircraft guided missile and bomb rotary launcher (AGMBRL), but this is now being provided through an upgrade programme of the weapons bay and AGMBRL, imaginatively called the 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade. The AGMBRL, originally designed to release conventional and nuclear stores, is commonly referred to as the conventional rotary launcher or CRL.

Before 2017, MIL-STD-1760 connections, had been limited to the B-52H’s external integrated conventional stores management system pylon that can carry up to nine precision-guided munitions such as Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and the AGM-158 Joint Airto- Surface Standoff Munition.

A newly installed and upgraded conventional rotary launcher loaded in a B-52H bomb bay at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, on November 17, 2017. Upgraded CRLs were used by B-52 for strikes on Taliban infrastructure in southern Afghanistan during November.
SSgt Patrick Evenson/US Air National Guard

With the upgrade, a B-52H will be able to carry eight 500lb (227kg) GBU-38 JDAMs on its rebuilt and rewired CRL. Upgrades of B-52Hs in Qatar took place during November after upgraded launchers and technicians were flown out from Barksdale on a C-5M Super Galaxy. Aircraft fitted with an upgraded CRL were first used in action over Afghanistan on November 19. Only 44 CRLs will be upgraded, swapped out between deployed B-52Hs.

Other systems

When General Rand appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 7, he said the B-52 is currently the only Air Force combat aircraft without Link 16. As a NATO standard system, the data link is viewed as a requisite capability for participation in coalition air operations, and therefore as a significant shortfall in the case of the B-52H.

He reminded the senators – whose enthusiasm for building new aircraft and hesitancy to upgrade current ones is only slightly less than that of the Air Force – that B-52 modernisation has lagged. Only 21 B-52Hs had, by then, received the Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) upgrade. In his words: “[This] moves the B-52 into the digital age for the first time. CONECT is an onboard LAN [local area network] that will allow the crew to share a common battlespace picture.”

The B-52H’s 1960s-era Northrop Grumman (formerly Norden Systems) APQ-166 radar system has proven difficult to maintain – its mean time between failure is only some 46 flight hours – but the B-52 System Program Off ce managing the type’s radar modernisation program, while funded under the current Future Years Defense Plan, has not yet decided on a replacement.

A wheels and brake system upgrade, designed after an aborted take-off at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in 2016, which led to a B-52H overrunning the runway and ending up a total loss, is scheduled to be introduced in 2019. Until then, every B-52H landing at Al Udeid will require the use of drag parachute braking.