![]() ![]() Most of the B-52 airframes are original and their longevity is a testimony to the original design engineers. ![]() That’s not a hard ceiling, though, and continued combat success and budgetary factors could keep the B-52 in action until it turns 100 years old. The US Air Force Global Strike Command, which maintains the bombers at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and Minot AFB in North Dakota (with a few at Edwards Air Force Base in California) expects them to keep flying through the 2040s. They share bombing duties with the supersonic B-1 and the stealthy B-2, both far younger models, but aren’t going anywhere. Of the 744 B-52s Boeing built between 19, 76 remain in active service. ![]() For 60 years, the bomber’s been a constant presence in America’s arsenal, seeing action in Vietnam, the Serbian conflict, the Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 160-foot-long bombers-built by Boeing and nicknamed BUFFs, for “Big Ugly Fat Fuckers”-have storied histories, including setting an around-the-world nonstop flight record, patrolling the Soviet Union’s border with nuclear warheads 24-hours-a-day for eight years straight, and making a memorable appearance in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. The B-52s will drop GPS-guided smart-bombs and conventional 500-pound bombs on targets, and play other types of communication and monitoring roles. They're there to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the push to eliminate the Islamic State throughout Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Earlier this month, a contingent of US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers landed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. ![]()
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