75-year-old B-52 lifts to fight yet another war

A slow lumbering eight-engined bomber, that flew just after World War 2, the type which any defence analyst will tell you shouldn't fly combat missions, is now flying once again firing missiles and dropping bombs in anger on Iran.

The United States Air Force's B-52 was designed to be a doomsday bomber, it was to carry nuclear bombs deep behind the iron curtain had the cold war gone hot. The B-52 was also designed to carry as much as 32,000 kgs worth of conventional bombs.The B-52, which had a production run from 1952 to 1962, first saw combat in the Vietnam War (1965-1975). In this conflict the bomber carried out carpet bombing missions across North Vietnam.

The aircraft also carried out bombing missions in both the Iraq wars, Afghanistan and in erstwhile Yugoslavia. Now, touching 75, the heavily updated and modified bomber is now bombing targets in Iran. The most important mission flown by the B-52 was during Operation Chrome Dome.

During this operation the US Air Force continuously flew nuclear armed B-52 bombers from 1961 to 1968, near the borders of the erstwhile Soviet Union in the form of a deterrence patrol.

Through the decades, the US Air Force kept upgrading and modifying the bomber with some of the latest in technology in order to ensure that the bomber can take its massive bomb carrying capacity to the next fight. The latest of these modifications, equipping the aircraft with a new radar, was carried out in December of last year.The bomber can carry a plethora of weapons ranging from dumb bombs to smart munitions. In recent combat operations the B-52 has carried out precision strikes using smart munitions such as the famed Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) along with a plethora of other weapons, including nuclear weapons.

The aircraft was also tested to carry a hypersonic weapon.The B-52, has survived many hot and cold conflicts. The aircraft has proven itself in combat across different theatres of war, from the rain forests of Vietnam to the deserts of West Asia. The bomber has flown different types of missions ranging from strategic bombing to flying deterrence patrols on the frontlines of the cold war. Now over Iran the veteran combat aircraft is proving that it can adapt to overcome. The B-52 is to undergo another series of modifications and is expected to retire in the 2050s a full century after it's first flight in 1952.