Boeing proved in laboratory tests that the Air Force could load small diameter bombs on its common strategic rotary launcher within the bomb bay of B-52 bombers. Boeing tested the SDBs in a weapons integration laboratory, showing that 32 weapons could be placed in the CSRL in what a company release termed a “fit check.” The tests may help increase the B-52s conventional payload by up to 100 percent, said Scot Oathout, Boeing program director for the B-52. Currently, the bomber’s CSRL only accommodates nuclear weapons and conventional air-launched cruise missiles.
Two Airmen endured -45 degree temperatures during an Arctic survival course in the far north, where national security experts worry the U.S. is underprepared to counter Russia or China.