A B-52 at Edwards AFB, Calif., recently launched Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles from an internal bay for the first time. While Stratofortresses have for decades been able to carry the cruise missiles on external pylons, the Air Force has been developing the capability to carry the missiles on an internal conventional rotary launcher to increase the total payload of the aircraft. “This was a first-ever for the B-52, and is also going to be another amazing enhancement in B-52 combat capability for Global Strike,” Brig. Gen. Carl Schaefer, commander of the 412th Test Wing, said in an Edwards release. The internal launcher could eventually increase the B-52’s total payload by more than 60 percent, and can also increase fuel efficiency by reducing drag, according to the Air Force. The Edwards team is now looking to test launch a Miniature Air Launch Decoy from the same internal launcher, the release states. (See also: Training With the Upgraded B-52.)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. still “believes” in his mantra of “Accelerate Change or Lose”—and indicated the doctrinal changes it produced when he was Air Force Chief of Staff played a role in the service’s recent response to Iran’s aerial assault on Israel, he…