In an unprecedented move,a US Air Force Boeing B-52H Stratofortress bomber called "Ghost Rider" has been taken out of retirement at the famous Boneyard storage facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,Arizona.Thousands of planes are kept in storage at the bone-dry desert tract and occasionally used for spare parts.Till now,though,none had ever been returned to flight.
Ghost Rider was found to have dry rot in its fuel lines and on its tyres,but after a bit of refurbishment,it passed a runway test of its steering and landing gear,and its eight Pratt&Whitney engines fired right up.The flight control systems worked perfectly as well,so on 13 February the sturdy bomber was flown to Barksadale AFB,Louisiana,one of two bases that host the B-52Hs;the other is Minot AFB in North Dakota.Ghost Rider will take the place of a B-52 damaged in a cockpit fire.
The B-52s played a major role in the Vietnam War from 1964-73.Thirty-one of them were shot down,with the loss of 25 crewmembers.After Vietnam,they went on to serve over Iraq,Yugoslavia and Afghanistan in Operations Desert Storm in 1991 and Desert Strike in 1996;Operation Allied Force in 1999;Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001;and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.The Stratofortress has been constantly upgraded and will be in service until 2045,according to the current plan.It has proven to be a superior economical and adaptable high subsonic speed bomber with substantial loiter capability.
In 2013,the fleet-wide technology upgrade called Combat Network Communications Technology,or CONECT,was begun to modernise technology,computing and flight deck avionics,and involved installing new modems,servers,radios,receivers,data links and digital workstations.From 2016-17,the Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade will be carried out,resulting in a 66% increase in weapons carriage capacity through installation of a digital interface and rotary launcher.JDAMS,aong with JASSM and MACD missiles will be carried internally in the weapons bay,giving the streamlined plane a 15% improvement in fuel mileage besides the increased firepower.
An airman enlisting today could well spend his or her entire career on the B-52H.*
Boeing(BA),United Technologies(UTX)
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