Quadruple Bomb Loads

B-52 Bombers Could Quadruple Their Wing Bomb Loads

A new wing mount would mean the B-52 could carry the Mother of All Bombs, or a lot of smaller ones.

By Kyle Mizokami

GETTY IMAGES/PAUL J. RICHARDS

The U.S. Air Force has proposed new weapons pylons for the wings of B-52 bombers, allowing them to carry up to 20,000 pounds of ordnance. This would enable the B-52 to carry the so-called Mother of All Bombs—or a lot of smaller bombs—transforming the aging bomber into the Pentagon’s vision of an “Arsenal Plane.”


According to FlightGlobal, the Air Force is soliciting industry for ideas in replacing the B-52’s bomb-carrying wing pylons with new, improved versions capable of carrying up to 10 tons of ordnance. The current pylons on the B-52H heavy strategic bomber are the original ones designed into the plane in the late 1950s and rated only to 5,000 pound bombs. According to the Air Force, “There wasn't a requirement nor did anyone foresee a need to carry weapons heavier than 5,000lb.”

The Air Force currently has two weapons larger than 5,000 pounds: the 20,000 pound GBU-43/B MOAB, otherwise known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” designed to kill enemy troops in the open with a deadly wave of overpressure. The Air Force dropped a MOAB ISIS underground tunnels in Afghanistan in April 2017. There’s also the larger 30,000 pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), meant to penetrate up to 200 feet of reinforced concrete to attack enemy bunkers.


B-52 bomber with 3,000 lb Have Nap/Popeye air to ground missile the external wing pylon the USAF plans to upgrade.
GETTY IMAGESDIANA WALKER

The B-52 already has the capability to carry the MOP bomb internally, and the pylon upgrade would allow it to also carry MOAB bombs. The B-52 can carry a maximum of 70,000 pounds of bombs, making it theoretically possible to carry a MOP internally and one MOABs on each wing. Such a configuration is unlikely however since the two bombs are meant for different mission types.

Another possibility for increasing B-52’s the wing ordnance load is to prepare the aircraft for the Pentagon’s Arsenal Plane concept. The Arsenal Plane, first unveiled by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in 2016, called for taking an existing large Air Force aircraft and turning it into a flying weapons magazine stuffed to the gills with long-range missiles such as the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, or JASSM-ER. The Arsenal Plane would fly beyond enemy air defenses, unleashing waves of missiles on targets discovered by satellites, drones, or stealth aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor or F-35 Panther.

The B-52 already has the range and payload necessary to make a good Arsenal Plane—adding new higher capacity pylons would allow it to carry the firepower necessary to make the concept a reality.