Not at posted coordinates! Be sure to check the logbook for the bonus codes!
From its inception, the B-52 was designed and intended to be an atomic bomber. This doesn’t mean the aircraft ONLY carried nuclear weaponry—on the contrary, conventional weapons were employed in combat by BUFFs as early as 1965. Let’s examine some of what types of conventional weapons the BUFF has carried, and can be armed with today.
General-Purpose Weapons:
M117, 750-lb General-Purpose (G-P) Bomb
Developed during the Korean War, this 750-lb bomb was dropped in large numbers by BUFFs during Vietnam and both Gulf Wars just to name a few. Filled with 386 lb of high explosive, it has a number of versions and tail varieties to better meet mission objectives. The final M117s were retired as late as 2015.
Mark 82, 500-lb G-P Bomb
The 500-lb G-P bomb is one of the most widely-employed bombs in the world, of any allied military force. Currently stockpiled by the USAF, the Mk 82 is filled with 192 lbs of high explosive and comes in a number of variants and tail designs. It is just under 11 inches in diameter and 87 inches long. The Mk 82 also can be fitted with guidance equipment to become GBU-12 laser-guided bombs and for the GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).
Mk 84, 2,000-lb G-P Bomb
The 2,000-lb G-P bomb is like the Mk 82, but is larger (18” dia/129” long) and filled with 945 lbs of high explosive. Able to be built in a number of configurations and can penetrate up to 15 inches (38 cm) of metal or 11 ft (3.4 m) of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 yards. Like the Mk 82, it can be fitted with guided components for high accuracy, yielding the GBU-10/GBU-24/GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 electro-optical bomb, GBU-31 JDAM and Quickstrike sea mines. The Mk 84 also underwent a program to assess retrofitting it with insensitive high explosive to increase ground handling safety and reduce violent detonations in accidents.
Missiles:
AGM-84 Harpoon
The Harpoon missile is an antiship missile. The missile was developed in the 1970s, intended to skim the sea surface to its target. Various versions of the Harpoon exist, with land-attack options now available using the Stand-Off Land Attack Missile. The missile is guided by a radar seeker and GPS. The Harpoon was integrated into B-52G aircraft by 1983, which could carry up to 12, on wing pylons. The Harpoon mission was first assigned at Loring AFB, Maine and Andersen AFB, Guam by 1985. When Loring closed in 1994, four B-52H models at Barksdale were modified and assumed the Harpoon mission. As the G’s were consigned to the boneyard, more H-models were made Harpoon-capable. By 1997, all H-models in the Air Force were so-equipped to employ Harpoon missiles.
AGM-158 Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)
The JASSM is a standoff cruise missile, similar to the AGM-86/B, but only serves a conventional role. In 1996, the Department of Defense established the JASSM program, to produce a standoff missile to fill a desperate mission need. JASSM is a 14-foot-long precision cruise missile weighing about 2,300 lbs with a 1,000-lb hard target warhead designed for launch from outside area defenses to kill hard, medium-hardened, soft, and area type targets. It has a J402 turbojet engine rated for just under 700 lbs of thrust. After launch, it will be able to fly autonomously over a low-level, circuitous route to the area of a target, where an autonomous terminal guidance system will guide the missile in for strike. It is guided by GPS-aided inertial navigation system protected by a new high, anti-jam GPS steering antenna system. It completed testing and entered production in 2009. The JASSM has a range of about 230 miles, but Extended Range versions called the JASSM-ER (AGM-158B) can reach beyond 575 miles with new F107 turbofan engines. The BUFF can carry 20 JASSMs; 8 internally and 12 more on wing pylons. The JASSM-ER was integrated with the BUFF in 2018.
Cluster Munitions:
CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW)
The SFW is a cluster weapon that has submunitions (called skeet) that can seek, target and neutralize armored targets such as vehicles, and tanks. It was designed in the late 1990/early 2000s, but not used in combat until 2003. It is a 1,000-lb class gravity weapon, but with the Wind Corrected Munition Dispenser (WCMD), it becomes a guided precision weapon. The WCMD modification literally does what its name says—compensates for winds aloft from driving the weapons off target. The SFW has 40 skeet, in 10 packs of 4. When launched from the aircraft, the skeet deploy parachutes and use an infrared sensor to rapidly locate a hot target, such as a tank or armored vehicle. The projectile locks on to its target and an explosive charge liquefies a hunk of metal and fires a high-velocity slug which strikes and immobilizes the target. Intended to stop columns of advancing enemy tanks or armor, the BUFF can employ 16 of the SFW. In order to prevent battlefields of today from becoming minefields of tomorrow, the skeet have a self-destruct mode that destroys the skeet if no target is found.
Navy Mines:
Mk 65 Quick Strike Mine
The Mk 65 mine is a 2,000-lb class purpose-built weapon, using a thin-walled design, unlike previous mines that used G-P bombs as warheads. The Mk 65 has a special arming device, nose fairing, and a tail section adaptable to parachute option. All mines have the capability of making arming-delay, sterilization, self-destruct, and other operational settings. The mine is a bottom mine, meaning it is airdropped into the sea at shallow depths, and sinks to the seabed where sensors and fuzes monitor for enemy ships, best for restricting access to key harbors.
MK 60 CAPTOR
A key anti-submarine mine is the Mk 60 CAPTOR (encapsulated torpedo). It was deployed from 1979 until 2001 when it was retired. The mine was about 2,400 lbs, 12 feet long and 21 inches in diameter. It would also be airdropped and sink to the seabed where the system would activate. The sensors used Reliable Acoustic Path sound propagation to passively identify and track enemy and friendly ships and submarines. The system could be active for weeks or months underwater at depths up to 1,000 feet. When an enemy sub approached, it would fire a Mk 46 torpedo at ranges up to 8,000 yards to destroy it. CAPTOR mines were known to be deployed at Loring AFB, Maine on B-52Gs. It has been replaced by the Mk 67 Submarine Launched Mobile Mine.
Hard Target Weapons:
BLU-109 Bomb
The BLU-109 bomb is a 2,000-lb class bomb, but is designed for hard target destruction. Hard targets in this instance means underground command centers, thick reinforced concrete, tunnels, bunkers and the like. Although the basic warhead section of the bomb weighs about a ton, only 530 lbs of it is explosive fill. The case is one-inch-thick steel, capable of piercing up to six feet of reinforced concrete. It has a delayed-action fuze that allows the weapon to bury itself deeply to destroy hard targets. It is similar to the Mk 84 G-P bomb and able to be fitted with guidance kits to build the GBU-15 electro-optically guided bomb, the GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb, and the AGM-130 rocket-boosted weapons.
To find this cache, calculate the coordinates from the information in this listing.
N 48° 18.ABC W 101° 19.DEF
A= Year M117 G-P bombs were retired, XXXN, A=(N+0)
B= Designation of JDAM with Mk 84, 2,000-lb G-P Bomb, GBU-NX, B=(N/1)
C= Total amount of Harpoon missiles the B-52 can carry, NN missiles, C=(NN/6)
D= Approximate JASSM (non-ER) range, XXN miles, D=(N/0)
E= Quantity of Sensor Fuzed Weapons the B-52 can carry, NN SFW, E=(NN-9)
F= Maximum depth for M60 CAPTOR Mine, X,XXN feet, F=(N-0)
Dorr, R. & Peacock, L. (1995). Boeing’s Cold War Warrior: B-52 Stratofortress. London, UK; Osprey Aerospace.
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/mk84.htm
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/mk65.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_60_CAPTOR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_84_bomb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_82_bomb
https://www.aerodefensetech.com/component/content/article/adt/supplements/afrl/briefs/4659
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/jassm.htm
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/agm-84.htm
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/wcmd.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBU-97_Sensor_Fuzed_Weapon
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0398sensor/