By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
The venerable B-52 is prominently featured in the current budget battles on Capitol Hill.
The House and Senate defense spending bills for fiscal 2025 call for the Air Force to modify about 30 of the aging bombers to make them capable once again of carrying nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the House version of the measure wants the secretary of the Air Force to look into ways of improving crew comforts aboard the plane, which is sometimes used for missions that stretch well beyond 24 hours.
It’s still early in the budget process and uncertain if either proposal will end up in the final version of the spending bill.
The call for adding modifying some B-52s so they could once again carry nuclear weapons has to do with the New START treaty, the nuclear arms reduction pact the US and Russia agreed on in 2010. Under its terms, the nuclear weapons capabilities of 30 of those Stratofortresses were removed as both sides promised to reduce their arsenals to 1,550 deployed warheads.
In 2021, Moscow and Washington agreed to extend the treaty for five years. Russia suspended its participation in 2023 in the midst of rising tensions over the invasion of Ukraine, but still promised to stay within the treaty’s numerical limits.
The House measure would require the Air Force to begin modifying the bombers within a month after the treaty expires in 2026.
“The prospect of Russia coming to the table for serious arms control discussions is incredibly unlikely,” said House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers. “We need to be prepared to face a nuclear environment without any treaty limitations.”
Former Army Futures Command Commander – Ret. Gen. John Murray
The top Democrat on the Armed Service Committee, Adam Smith of Washington, disagrees.
“The Department of Defense is not interested in doing this,” said Smith, according to Defense News. “What they’re interested in doing is investing in the B-21, which is the next generation nuclear-capable bomber. This would cost a great deal of money.”
The last of the current 76 B-52s still in service, the H model, was built in 1962. The Air Force will be putting new Rolls-Royce engines on the planes, along with installing new avionics and digital cockpit displays.
The upgraded bomber will be called the B-52J and isn’t expected to reach initial operational capacity until 2033. The Air Force expects to operate the plane until 2050 – roughly 95 years after it went into service.
If lawmakers in the House have their way, the B-52’s five-member crew will have a slightly more comfortable life on board.
The bomber’s cramped quarters have never been mistaken for first class, or even for the back of the plane on a discount airline. There’s only one bunk, and the restroom facilities have more in common with a rundown outhouse than the lavatory on a 777.
With refueling, the B-52 has been known to stay in the air 33 hours or longer. In its budget message, the House Armed Services didn’t specify what the Air Force should do to make the crew more comfortable – just that it should look into the matter and report back by next February.
