Wingspan: 
     185 feet 
Length: 
     161 feet 
Height: 
     40 feet, 8 inches 
Weight: 
     488,00 maximum 
Speed: 
     595 mph 
Ceiling: 
     55,00 feet 
Range: 
     5,016 miles loaded on internal fuel (worldwide with refueling) 
Power: 
     Eight Pratt and Whitney J57-P-43 WB Turbojet engines 
Armament: 
     50,00 lbs in a mix of weapons. 
Crew: 
     6 
Service: 
     Air Force 

*Designed as our nation's main strategic bomber in 1940, the B-52 has been on active duty since 1954. It has seen action in Vietnam where it dropped thousands of tons of munitions. Six B-52's can clear an area two miles long and 5/8th's of a mile wide. It is being used in massive bombing operations against large formations of Iraqi troops and strategic targets inside Iraq. The B-52 is scheduled to be replaced by the B-2 Stealth or some other bomber in the future, but given the cost of the B-2, the B-52 may be around for several more years. 

Iraqi Counterpart--  

Iraq has about a dozen of two strike bombers, the TU-16 Badger and TU-22 Blinder. Their range is less than that of the B-52, as is their bomb capacity. The TU-22 is a fast aircraft compared to the B-52, capable of Mach 1.4, but it is unlikely that many of these will penetrate U.S. interceptors to reach their targets. 

Actions in Desert Storm-- 

The B-52 was used for massive bombing operations against Republican Guard and other front line targets. Launched from bases in Diego Garcia, England and Saudi Arabia, the B-52s would carpet bomb Iraqi tanks and armored columns in the Iraq and Kuwait. Besides the tremendous physical destruction caused by a B-52, there was also a great amount of psychological damage when a formation of these planes attacked a  concentration of enemy forces. One B-52 was lost to mechanical difficulty while returning from a combat mission. 

During Desert Storm 68 B-52Gs were deployed. They delivered more than 54 million pounds of bombs  ithout a combat loss. In addition, several B-52s from Louisiana were used to launch cruise missiles prior to the start of the air war. 

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