rats@ihlpm.att.com (David Woo) (01/27/91)
From: rats@ihlpm.att.com (David Woo) The NY TIMES reported that the current B-52s can only carry half the bombload of Vietnam era B-52s (~50 compared to ~100). Where are these older model B-52s? Are they destroyed or merely mothballed? NYT claimed that the room was taken over by 'computers that increased bombing accuracy,' something that I find hard to believe. By the way, how is the B-52 attack radar working, since they removed all the hydraulics and replaced them with electro-mechanical actuators? What is the status of the FOG-M (Fiber-Optic Guided Missile)? This would seem the ideal missile for attacking the Iraqi T-72s that are dug in as anti-tank guns. I've seen pictures of the thing; there are aseembled together in groups of vertical launchers. Once shot into the air, they are guided onto the target via a TV camera in the nose through signals propagated down a fiberoptic waveguide. Perfect for a high-angle of attack situation, which is exactly what the T-72s are in. I kind of recall seeing pictures of tests of weapons dropped from aircraft and penetrating the ground before exploding. I think it was Sandia Labs that was conducting the tests, so, the question is, are these penetrating bombs currently fielded? This Kuwaiti campaign would have been the perfect place for Yale Jay Lubkin's vision of B-52 aircraft launching autonomous RPVs that automatically located and fired on armored vehicles. Ah well, we all pay for a lack of vision...
jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) (02/04/91)
From: jtchew@csa2.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW) >The NY TIMES reported that the current B-52s can only carry half the >bombload of Vietnam era B-52s (~50 compared to ~100). Where are these >older model B-52s? Are they destroyed or merely mothballed? NYT claimed >that the room was taken over by 'computers that increased bombing >accuracy,' something that I find hard to believe. I think the Times may have gotten it backwards. Initial experience with nuclear-strike B-52s used for conventional bombing in Vietnam resulted in a retrofit called "Big Belly." This was performed on B-52Ds, which at the time weren't all that old. In the 70s, when it came time to upgrade SAC's nuke bombers for their new mission profile (nape of the earth rather than high altitude), the new avionics and so forth were put on the B-52Gs and Hs, presumably because they were newer, lower-time airframes. As far as I know, the Ds were pressed into emergency service as scorpion habitat rather than destroyed. I don't know, and presumably wouldn't be told, whether any effort is underway to rehabilitate them for the Persian Gulf war. For further reading: "SAC," Bill Yenne (Presidio Press, 1985) --Joe "Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"