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The B52 bomber first came into service in 1952 and has been upgraded over the years to carry air-launched cruise missiles. The United St...
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| The B52 bomber first came into service in 1952 and has been upgraded over the years to carry air-launched cruise missiles. |
B-52 bombers
The B-52H Stratofortress ''Wise Guy'' is a heavy bomber, long-range and most longest-serving military aircraft since 1952. It can perform a variety of missions. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,166.6 meters). It can carry nuclear or precision-guided conventional ordnance worldwide navigation capability. In a conventional conflict, the B-52 can perform strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, offensive counter-air, and maritime operations.
B-52s can be equipped with two electro-optical viewing sensors, a forward-looking infrared and advanced targeting pods to augment targeting, battle assessment and flight safety, further improving its combat ability. Pilots wear night vision goggles, or NVGs, to enhance their vision during night operations. Night vision goggles provide greater safety during night operations by increasing the pilot's ability to visually clear terrain, increasing the peacetime and combat situational awareness of the aircrew and improving their ability to visually acquire other aircraft.
B-52s are equipped with advanced targeting pods. Targeting pods provide improved long-range target detection, identification and continuous stabilized surveillance for all missions, including close air support of ground forces. The advanced targeting and image processing technology significantly increases the combat effectiveness of the B-52 during day, night and less than ideal weather conditions when attacking ground targets with a variety of standoff weapons (e.g., laser-guided bombs, conventional bombs and GPS-guided weapons). As 2020 six of the newly upgraded bombers would be sent to the airbase at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. There are around 75 B-52s in the US Air Force's active and reserve fleets.
B-2 Spirit stealth bombers
B-2 Spirit is a sophisticated stealth bomber that introduced in the 1980s. The B-2 can destroy the enemy's most valued targets. The bomber incorporated with a revolutionary low-observable, or "stealth," technology allowing the bomber delivering large payloads of conventional or nuclear weapons while averts sophisticated air defense and radar systems.
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| Northrop B-2 Spirit in the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo) |
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| B-2 stealth bombers have been battle-tested in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. |
The bat-winged heavy bombers can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. The US Air Force's fleet of 20 operate from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but they can stage out of bases like those on Diego Garcia, or the Pacific island of Guam. In a conventional conflict, the four-engine B-2 can carry two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, the biggest non-nuclear bombs in the US arsenal. These 30,000-pound, 30-foot-long (13,607-kilogram, 9-meter-long) bombs are designed to strike deep into the ground to take out missile and command complexes that are out of reach of other non-nuclear weapons. The B-2 can also carry a range of other weaponry and has been battle tested in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
B-1 Lancer Bombers
The four-engine bombers, of which the US has more than 60 in its fleet, can carry the largest payload of any aircraft in the US Air Force -- more than 75,000 pounds (34,019 kilograms) worth, including cruise missiles, gravity bombs and naval mines. In the past, B-1s have been used extensively to drop Joint Direct Attack Munitions, essentially free-fall bombs with guidance systems attached to their tails, which can get them within 15 feet (5 meters) of their target.
The B-1B's blended wing/body configuration, variable-geometry wings and turbofan afterburning engines, combine to provide long range, maneuverability and high speed while enhancing survivability. Forward wing settings are used for takeoff, landings, air refueling and in some high-altitude weapons employment scenarios. Aft wing sweep settings - the main combat configuration -- are typically used during high subsonic and supersonic flight, enhancing the B-1B's maneuverability in the low- and high-altitude regimes.
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| B-1 bombers can carry the largest payload of any aircraft in the US Air Force fleet. |
The B-1B's speed and superior handling characteristics allow it to seamlessly integrate in mixed force packages. These capabilities, when combined with its substantial payload, excellent radar targeting system, long loiter time and survivability, make the B-1B a key element of any joint/composite strike force. The B-1 is a highly versatile, multi-mission weapon system. The B-1B's synthetic aperture radar is capable of tracking, targeting and engaging moving vehicles as well as self-targeting and terrain-following modes. In addition, an extremely accurate Global Positioning System-aided Inertial Navigation System enables aircrews to navigate without the aid of ground-based navigation aids as well as engage targets with a high level of precision.
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| B-1B Lancer: USAF |
The B-1B was first used in combat in support of operations against Iraq during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998. In 1999, six B-1s were used in Operation Allied Force, delivering more than 20 percent of the total ordnance while flying less than 2 percent of the combat sorties. During the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom, eight B-1s dropped nearly 40 percent of the total tonnage delivered by coalition air forces. This included nearly 3,900 JDAMs, or 67 percent of the total. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the aircraft flew less than 1 percent of the combat missions while delivering 43 percent of the JDAMs used. The B-1 continues to be deployed today, flying missions daily in support of continuing operations.
F-22 stealth fighters
The F-22 Raptor is the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft. Its combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, and integrated avionics, coupled with improved supportability, represents an exponential leap in warfighting capabilities. The Raptor performs both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions allowing full realization of operational concepts vital to the 21st century Air Force. The F-22, a critical component of the Global Strike Task Force, is designed to project air dominance, rapidly and at great distances and defeat threats attempting to deny access to our nation's Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The F-22 cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft.
A combination of sensor capability, integrated avionics, situational awareness, and weapons provides first-kill opportunity against threats. The F-22 possesses a sophisticated sensor suite allowing the pilot to track, identify, shoot and kill air-to-air threats before being detected. Significant advances in cockpit design and sensor fusion improve the pilot's situational awareness. In the air-to-air configuration the Raptor carries six AIM-120 AMRAAMs and two AIM-9 Sidewinders. The F-22 has a significant capability to attack surface targets.
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| F-22 stealth fighters can stay undetected by enemy radar. |
The F-22's characteristics provide a synergistic effect ensuring F-22A lethality against all advanced air threats. The combination of stealth, integrated avionics and supercruise drastically shrinks surface-to-air missile engagement envelopes and minimizes enemy capabilities to track and engage the F-22. The combination of reduced observability and supercruise accentuates the advantage of surprise in a tactical environment.
The US Air Force has about 180 F-22s, which are considered the force's most capable fighter aircraft. Besides its ability to take on the best of any fighter aircraft foes have to offer, the stealthy F-22 can carry two Joint Direct Attack munitions and radar-guided air-to-ground missiles. In the early days of any conflict involving US forces, F-22s -- with their ability to stay undetected by enemy radar -- could be expected to target air defense sites, opening up the airspace for follow-on attacks by less stealthy planes and cruise missiles.
F-35 Lightning II (Recalled)
The Pentagon announced on 11 October 2018 the grounding its entire fleet of F-35s, following the mysterious crash of an F-35B that led investigators to suspect there is a widespread problem with the advanced fighter’s fuel tubes. “The U.S. Services and international partners have temporarily suspended F-35 flight operations while the enterprise conducts a fleet-wide inspection of a fuel tube within the engine on all F-35 aircraft,” the F-35 Joint Program Office already reassured the involved parties in the project.
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| F-35 Lighting II. Image: USAF |
Submarines
The US Navy has dozens of submarines that can stay submerged and potentially launch hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles at land and sea targets. The most capable of these subs, four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines, carry up to 154 Tomahawks. Each of those missiles, armed with a 1,000-pound (453-kilogram) warhead, can hit independent targets as far as 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from its launch site. The modern and newly built Subs:
- USS Cheyenne (SSN-773)
- USS Louisiana (SSBN-743)
- USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23)
- USS South Dakota (SSN 790)
- USS Columbia (SSBN-826)
- USS Virginia (SSN-774)
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| Ohio-class submarines like the USS Michigan can carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles. |
Additionally, each missile can carry info on 15 targets in its guidance system, giving it the ability to switch destinations mid-flight. Besides the Ohio-class subs, the US Navy's Virginia-class and Los Angeles-class boats -- more than four dozen of them -- can carry the Tomahawks, albeit in fewer numbers. Aircraft carriers There are 11 active aircraft carriers in the US Navy fleet, 10 Nimitz-class and one Ford-class. While those numbers seem extensive, only three to four are likely to be battle ready at any one moment. As of Monday, the US Naval Institute showed one carrier, the USS Harry Truman, in the Middle East.
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| An F/A-18 fighter jet aboard a US aircraft carrier. |
Destroyers and Cruisers
The US Navy's fleet of guided-missile cruisers and destroyers can operate in conjunction with the aircraft carriers in carrier-strike groups, or independently. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers number more than 70 in active service and form the backbone of the Navy's fleet. Each can carry up to 56 Tomahawk cruise missiles to attack land and sea targets. The Ticonderoga-class cruisers also carry cruise missiles, though in smaller numbers than the destroyers. Both ships provide the Navy with its most advanced missile defense system, AEGIS. The system, which communicates targeting info among various platforms, can target low-level and ballistic missiles threatening ships, or even targets on land.
Cyber Warfare
The role of information warfare in global strategic competition has become much more apparent in recent years. Today's battles fought in front of a computer and deploying other means such as hybrid warfare through manipulations that employ social media like Facebook, Twitter and artificial intelligence ''Deep Fake'', cyberbullying and harassment of individuals, distribution of rumors and conspiracy theories, and other tools to cause damage to the target state. These emerging tools and techniques represent a potentially significant threat to U.S. and allied national interests. Although US cyber programs are in the state of infancy, the DoD has deployed responsible units for cyber defensive as well as offensive following the hacking incidents and interfering in the 2016 Presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.