A B-52 BECOMES A ROAD WARRIOR
On January 3, 2022, people in Arizona witnessed a unique spectacle. A Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, or at least its 160-footlong fuselage, was hitting the road.
The bomber in question, B-52H 61-0009, known as Damage Inc. II, had served the U.S. Air Force actively from 1961 to September 25, 2008, when it was retired to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Then it was recalled to duty to help develop a new generation of B-52s. The B-52J “Centuryfortress” program will see the installation of newsensors, communications equipment, avionics, defensive countermeasures and Rolls-Royce engines in the remaining 76 B-52s to improve their efficiency and sustainability until at least the year 2050.
Damage Inc. II will serve as an “integration model” for the research and developmentof theB-52Jandthe hypersonic weapons initiative that will arm it. In accordance with the Air Force’s $2.8-million contact to aerospace engineering firm J.F. Taylor in Maryland, the fuselage and left wing will serve that purpose in Oklahoma City, while the right wing and horizonal stabilizer will go to McFarland Research & Development in Kansas for the B-52H Aircraft Structural Integrity Program.
“As new weapons are developed and come on hand, we can use it to
