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B-52 Gets First Full IT Upgrade Since 1961

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-bomb-you-with dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with good news for everyone who wants to hold a LAN party in a Stratofortress. "The US Air Force's 10th Flight Test Squadron recently took delivery of the first B-52H Stratofortress to complete a refit through the Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) program. It's an effort to bring the Cold War era heavy bomber into the 21st century way of warfare—or at least up to the 1990s, technology-wise. While the aircraft received piecemeal upgrades over the past 50 years of flying, CONECT is the first major information technology overhaul for the Air Force's B-52H fleet since the airplanes started entering service in 1961."

3 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I wonder by o'reor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Tell that to the russian engineers at Tupolev. The Tu-95 "Bear", the soviet counterpart of Boeing's B-52, was first flown in 1952, and is still in active service 62 years later. Pretty damn fast too for a turboprop bomber.

    --
    In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
  2. IT upgrade for a machine that predates IT by erice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, not exactly. But certainly if you proposed having a computer onboard in 1961, the first reaction would be: The B52 is big but it's not that big!

    Second would be "What would you do with one?"

  3. Re:I wonder by Darth+Turbogeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Given the number of cruise missiles it carries - yes it is. If you absolutly, positively need to fuck up someone's day, a B52 is still one of the ebst weapons to do it.

    --
    "Old Rallydrivers never die - they just fail to book in on time"