The US is sending an unmistakable message to China
-Four B-52 bomber flights through the East and South China Seas this month
-US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers, powerful weapons of war, have made multiple flights through the East and South China Seas this month.
-These flights are part of US Indo-Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence mission, which aims to strengthen America’s deterrence in the face of emerging threats.
-News of these flights comes on the heels of a Pentagon report that China’s bombers are increasingly active in the region, often pushing the limits to project power at greater distances.
Business Insider reports several US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers have flown through the contested East and South China Seas multiple times this month, sending an unmistakable message to China.
Four flights involving two bombers each time, were carried out in the disputed seas as part of US Indo-Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) mission.
Two B-52s assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomber Squadron (EBS) participated in joint anti-submarine training exercises with two US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft on Aug. 1 in the East China Sea, US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in an official statement.
“Ultimately, it increased our readiness to serve as a credible deterrent force and presence within the theater,” Maj. John Radtke, 96th EBS mission planner, explained.
“Is the US trying to exert more pressure on China’s trade by sending a B-52 bombers to the South China Sea?” China’s nationalist state-affiliated tabloid Global Times asked in an editorial Thursday.
The CBP flights are “flown in accordance with international law” and are consistent with America’s “long-standing and well-known freedom of navigation policies,” PACAF public affairs said. China has often expressed frustration with the US position on this particular matter.
Looks like the Air Force is getting in the Freedom of Navigation Ops in a big way. Hard to miss a couple BUFFs flying formation over China’s disputed claims.
What they were doing in an ASW exercise is beyond me, but whatever floats your boat.
Category: China
Isn’t the idea of ASW exercises to SINK the boat that is floating? Asking for a friend.
In an ASW exercise, the idea is to Search, Detect, Localize, and Track the submerged submarine. If engaged in hostilities, then Attack and, if needed, Re-Attack after Attack Criteria is gained.
I’d tell you more, but then I’d have to, well, you know.
AW1Ed
The only thing I know about ASW is what I gleaned from reading Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising. And that was helo borne stuff with a Frigate. Not being a submariner that’s all I care to know
To each their own, RinR.
“What they were doing in an ASW exercise is beyond me, but whatever floats your boat.”
A BUFF load of bombs on a sub would be good ASW!
Amazes me to see BUFFS still flying around. Frankie and I saw/heard their Arc Light missions back in the 60’s in the Viet of the Nam.
It is pretty amazing. Aircrew are flying in birds their Dad’s flew.
Or Grandfathers.
Yeah, I say it every time we talk about the BUFF cause I think it’s just incredible. The NEWEST B-52 in the inventory has a tail number that starts with 63, meaning built in 1963!
I remember hearing about several Marine CH-46 pilots and aircrewmen who flew the same CH-46s that their fathers had flown in.
Imagine comparing log books with your father and having the same BUNOs in your log book that he has.
That is a testament to the Marine’s maintenance TLC to keep the Phrogs flying for that long.
Testament to those that designed and built these birds. As well as the devoted maintenance crews who look after them. If you do it properly the first time it will out see you and your kids, it seems. The only addition to these birds is a hook for the ladies to hang their hand-bags on in the cockpit.
Sorta like the RCAF’s CF-18s and Sea Things. We had to continuously parts Rob just to keep enough airworthy.
My dad’s (CAPT D at the time) crew picked up the last B-52 off the line a month before I was born. In 1962.
“A BUFF load of bombs on a sub would be good ASW!”
First, you have to know where to drop, and second, the munition must detonate at depth. Otherwise your just making noise and killing fish.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s NOT ASW.
Not really surprising. Using B-52s in a maritime role is really Cold War era stuff. Nothing new, someone just dusted off the old three-ring binders. BUFFs were doing Busy Observer flights out of Australia to cover the IO back in the 80’s. Then there was the deployment of air dropped sea mines before that. Its amazing how much ordy you can put in a bomb bay.
If I recall, Air Force about that same time was politicking hard for Navy’s Maritime Patrol mission, and a big stumbling block was ASW. Air Force simply didn’t have the gear or trained people to perform the mission, and could’t justify the time or cost to ramp up and “do” ASW. No fault to Air Force, ASW is as much a trained operator than the processors and displays needed.
Much better use for an ASuW role with a P doing the targeting. I wonder if the AF still has the capability of packing them with Harpoons and/or TASMs.
“What they were doing in an ASW exercise is beyond me, but whatever floats your boat.”
In my opinion, it’s probably a PAO justification for having the BUFFs flying around out there.
China: “Hey! What are those B-52s doing out here! We no likee!”
US: “Relax. They’re merely participating in a joint anti-submarine training exercise with two U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Nothing to see here.”
Could be. P-8As fly FONOPS there, too. And while it is a cool bird (yes, I’m biased), it’s not as intimidating as a pair of BUFFs.
Curt LeMay is smiling.
Like hell. He’s frowning – and growling, through puffs of cigar smoke: “Why are they wasting MY B-52s on a non-nuclear mission?!”
Until shortly before LeMay retired, B-52s had one and only one mission: nuclear delivery. I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t until well after he’d retired in Jan 1965 that they started performing any form of conventional missions whatsoever. (The USAF did start investigating and training for conventional missions for the B-52 in 1964, but by then it was clear that LeMay was on his way out the door.)
LeMay was a helluva fine wartime general, and he built SAC from scratch. But he had an severe case of tunnel-vision. To him, everything that wasn’t carrying nukes was secondary.
Hence, the attempts at fighter borne nukes.
i don’t think they ever figured how to get the fighter out of the blast zone. They tried pitching the bombs from a vertical fighter that was supposed to start a loop, eject the bomb, continue the loop, roll out at the top, and run like hell.I think they called it toss bombing or lob bombing. I don’t remember if they ever tried it with a live device.
If a B29 can get out of the way, a Mach2 fighter can. Problem is that nukes are a lot bigger, the blast radius of a 10 megaton bomb is a tad larger than that of a 10 kiloton bomb. And contrary to Hollywierd, you don’t outrun the blast front.
You just need a lead-lined refrigerator to survive a nuke blast. Doi. 🙄
Someone please tell me what BUFFS mean. I’m not to hip on this stuff.
Wiki: The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic … The B-52’s official name Stratofortress is rarely used; informally, the aircraft has become commonly referred to as the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fucker).
Thank you for the heads up on what the BUFF stands for sj.
de nada. I can’t ever figure out squid terminology.
Avast there, shipmate, and belay that bunkum!
Splice the mainbrace!
Yar! The sun’s over the yardarm somewhere!
Who’s got the mail buoy watch today??
Yef, and he’s late. As usual.
You are ALL three sheets to the wind! All of you.
Now get busy cleaning out the scuppers and ignore the scuttlebutt about Yef.
Or in polite company:
Big Ugly Fat Fellows
Well, sj, there is a “polite company” version too: Big Ugly Friendly Fellow. Heard that one from a USAF officer some decades ago – along with the “earthier” version Wikipedia gives.
There’s also a 3-letter version (BUF), which I heard from a former B-52 ECM officer around the same time. It’s similar to the Wikipedia version, but omits the “Flying”. (smile)
Callsign “DOOM” kinda sends a message.
I like the B-1’s “BONE” callsign.
The answer to the “Why?” question is simple: Because they can.
If the territory is disputed, they have as much right as anyone else to be there. Maybe more. China may no likey, but others do likey very much.
See my reply to Chip, below.
I’m happy to see that my tax dollars are being properly used, for once.
Certainly a better option for use of tax money than a catered lunch for some Congress critter’s sit-in protest over nothing.
If they’d just fly over my house….
If I could, I’d have one on “my” P-8As do a low pass and Mark On Top (MOT, yes it’s a Navy thing) your abode.
No reason for this. Why agitate the largest country in the world in their sphere of influence?
Because their activity and claims are illegal under international law.
New York Times Link
Chip, should we just have a policy of appeasement to unchecked territorial expansion? Cause that’s been tried (repeatedly) and doesn’t work well in the long term.
I went to a battalion reunion at Camp Lejune back in 98 and as one of the things we did was visit Cherry Point. We were told that most of the CH-46s were unable to fly because of parts being stripped from them to make the rest of them flyable. That was during the Clinton years if I am not mistaken. I recently visited the Museum of the Marine Corps and half of a CH-46 is a walk thru display complete with sound and vibrations. It unloads you into the hills of Khe Sahn . My Marine Corps getting more milage out of that half a bird every day still.
There’s an SH-2F on display here in Pax River in the museam’s bone yard. Bring’s back memories, some not good.
I lived near Cherry Point and used the commissary, Class VI, etc. I think they retired them all a couple of years ago. There was some heavy breathing in the area because they were ending the CH46 Pedro search and rescues. Gives the Coasties something to do.
Take it from me, sj, a former SAR swimmer. When it comes to SAR the Coasties are world class.
Steve, did they have a UH34D on display ? My squadron was the 34s in the fall of Saigon. severval of the crew chiefs flew as my gunner at one time or other. Joe
I have been close enough to a strike to learn proper procedure. Exit your bunker until the bombs strike as a safety measure. (in case of bunker collapse from vibration) Then, after the first bomb run, enter shelter from falling debris. Re-exit for second bomb run and duck back inside for protection.
Debris is sorted balistically into clods of similar size and weight. In my case every piece was fist sized and spread about a meter apart.
3 BUFFs at bombing altitude look like a single tiny dot.
I would imagine that a B-52 could carry some heavy anti-sub weapons.
With the Navy bird to say “drop riiiight …..there!”, they could engage with self-guided munitions.
Depth charges
Mines (Especially the “parked torpedo” type)
Random noisemaking technojunk designed to confuse the daylights out of sonarmen and intelmen of the PRC.
Or just flying around with a load of sailboat fuel in the bays to get the PRC folks saying the Mandarin equivalent of WTF?
Dude. Do I tell you how to do Infantry stuff? Stay in your swim lane, doggie.
*grin*
Navy has a nasty little weapon called the Mk-54 Lightweight Homing Torpedo, just to ruin the day of a target submarine.
BUFFs would be better employed in Anti-Surface-Warfare (ASUW) engagement, with a bunch of AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER’s on the wings.
Or just doing an occasional BUFF fly by just because. Their noise alone (too bad the enemy doesn’t hear them take off) is pretty intimidating.
Not saying that the more agile stuff shouldn’t be out there as well, of course. The fast, sleek, noisy stuff is also intimidating. Both on display captures more attention, as in “we can get you fast, we can get you slow; we can get you high, we can get you low.” It’s all good.
Nowadays I design systems, and integrate all sorts of stuff into whatever is needed.
Why would the DoD types not do so? (Grin)
Besides “mess with their minds” is kinda the obvious option.
On the other hand, just imagine that fantastic bombload at the beck and call of your team and ASW aircraft, your own personal ordinance truck, gigantic, several each.
Think “team” play, dude. (Grin)
Sure, the BUFF could be a flying sonobuoy locker, and drop those suckers like autumn leaves. But someone has to deconflict the sonobuoy RFs, and monitor them all for the target’s signature. Right now the P-8A can process and display more sonobuoys than an operator can easily monitor. Sometimes more is not better.
In this, as with so many other things, I lean toward “All of the Above.”
ASW? No problem.
Locate sub. Send one BUFF with coordinates to within 1km of sub – carrying multiple B61 Mod 11s. Drop one each B61 Mod 11 set for maximum penetration depth.
Sub gone. (smile)
Get back to me on the “Locate sub” part.
And I can neither confirm nor deny the P-3C Orion’s capability to carry and deploy the B-57 nuclear depth bomb.
I’ve been doing ASW for, holy crap! a really long time. I don’t tell you doggies what cheese spread to put on your grid squares; don’t tell me how to “Locate sub.”
And penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the act.
*grin*
With that post, Hondo wins the Golden Troll Trophy for today, a hallmark of excellence recognized throughout the interwebs.
The depth bomb version of the B57, according to public sources, had a relatively low max yield (approx. 10kt). Per those same sources, it was also phased out of the inventory in 1993.
Those same public sources say that the B61 Mod 11 is in the current inventory. And with a max yield 120 times higher (1.2MT), you’ve got a lot more margin for error on the “locate sub” part. One public source puts a 1MT weapon as having s a fireball with diameter approaching 2km (5700ft) – and water couples shock waves quite well. (smile)
I was joking above. But I suspect the scenario would work quite well if implemented – and I also suspect that you might not need max penetration depth for the B61 Mod 11 for optimum effect.
And I watched the parade of vehicles and security removing said weapons from the ordnance facility in Sigonella, Sicily, then.
The B-57 had “Variable Yield” because sometimes, again, more isn’t always better. Friendly forces near-by, for one.
Other concerns will require a SCIF to discuss.
Back to my original argument: Get back to me on the “Locate sub” part.
Well, I see someone replied as I was adding to my previous comment. (smile)
You’re correct in that location is the hard part. But the required ordnance could conceivably be delivered by either the USAF or USN.
And yes, location of friendly forces is a major consideration. It is anytime you fire any weapon, and may preclude the use of some weapons entirely.
“But the required ordnance could conceivably be delivered by either the USAF or USN.”
Doesn’t make sense, Hondo. An Air Force asset hanging around until a P-8A or Frigate/helo combination generates attack criteria on a sub is a waste of JP. The Navy team is right there for the attack, and re-attack. The BUFF is much more suited for Anti-Surface warfare, shooting cruise missiles at hostile ships.
Strange, isn’t it? How those drones we have look just like Cylon drones?
And we only use them for delivering pizzas to aircraft carriers. But that’s for right now. More later… 🙂
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a26463/quickstrike-sea-mines-slipjack-flounder/
MINE-EX’s were some of the sportier flights on the P-3Cs I flew in. 200 feet, 300 knots for the mine train to deploy off the wing stations, and then crank in about 60 degree AOB* to exit the area. The pilots loved all that. Guys in the back, not so much.
May not impress the TACAIR bubbas, but remember the P-3 was originally a four engine turbo-prop passenger plane.
*Angle of Bank. I’ve been on test flights where 60 degrees AOB was a starting point. It gets pretty exciting at 90 degrees…
Thank the Lord there is a MAN in the House now and not some one with jelly for a spine. Dust of the flights and set up a daily routine of every 6 hours rotation on the rout to be flown. Remember the Chines plans are not based on what will happen now, but what their goal is down the track in 10 to 20 years time. To kill a snake you must first take off the head of the snake. Sorry but I have seen the Chines actions in Tibet and I think I understand their M.O.D.