Strategic Bombers (2024)

FAQs

Is strategic bombing obsolete? ›

Despite these advances earlier strategic bombers, for example the B-52 last manufactured in 1962 and the Tupolev Tu-95, remain in service and can also deploy the latest air-launched cruise missiles and other "stand-off" or precision guided weapons such as the JASSM and the JDAM.

The United States has 76 B-52 bombers and 18 B-2 bombers certified to deliver nuclear weapons.

They're useful for hitting enemy regions that you can't feasibly push with an offensive into anytime soon. I usually will hit the UK mainland with them after toppling France as Germany.

Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider.

Estimates of the death toll from strategic bombing range from hundreds of thousands to over a million.

The Air Force is preparing to bring on its newest stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, and retire the aging B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit. Sometime in the 2030s, the service plans to have a fleet of two bombers — at least 100 B-21s and the current fleet of 76 B-52s, modernized top to bottom with a slate of upgrades.

A total of fifteen B-52s were lost, with 33 airmen losing their lives. Because the bombings were conducted at night, and the Bombers that made it back to base would land in darkness, the crew would not realize until the following day who among their colleagues had failed to return.

Production was performed by the plant at Xian, with at least 150 built into the 1990s. China is estimated to currently operate around 120 aircraft. The latest version is the H-6N, a heavily redesigned version capable of aerial refueling and carrying air-launched cruise missiles.

How many B-21s will be made? The U.S. Air Force has stated plans to acquire at least 100 aircraft. Some defense analysts believe that the Air Force should plan to purchase at least 200 B-21s.

What is the difference between tactical and strategic bombers? ›

Strategic bombers are generally specifically designed for medium-to-long-range aircraft. They are intended to carry heavy payloads and penetrate deep into enemy territory to target infrastructure or notable targets. By contrast, tactical bombing can be accomplished by a wider range of aircraft.

Highly complex (but not gory) World War 2 simulator

The game starts off in history, but events will usually deviate to some degree, creating innumerable alternate historical possibilities. The warfare you see is generally about as violent as a board game.

With the dubious honour of being history's deadliest bomber and the only aircraft to drop a nuclear weapon in combat, the B-29 is arguably the most important and controversial aircraft in human history.

The Current Bomber Force

USAF's current strategic bomber fleet consists of three aircraft types: the B-52 STRATOFORTRESS, the B-1 LANCER, and the B-2 SPIRIT.

Even so, they proved vulnerable to the fast fighter planes that began to appear later in World War II, and they were made completely obsolete shortly after the war by the advent of jet planes and guided missiles.

U.S. Strategic Command is one of eleven unified commands under the Department of Defense (DoD). Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, USSTRATCOM is responsible for strategic deterrence, global strike, and operating the Defense Department's Global Information Grid.

The arrival of nuclear weapons and guided missiles permanently changed the nature of military aviation and strategy. After the 1950s intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines began to supersede heavy bombers in the strategic nuclear role.

The service believed that development could begin in 2013, in time to replace aging B-2s, B-1s and B-52s around 2037. Although the USAF previously planned to operate the B-2 until 2058, the FY 2019 budget moved up its retirement to "no later than 2032".