The Pentagon's 'Arsenal Plane' Will Be A Modified B-52 Or C-130

Scout Warrior: Pentagon "Arsenal Plane" Could be B-52, C-130

The Air Force is already upgrading the historic, 1960s-era bomber with new radios, avionics and weapons capability

The Pentagon’s emerging “Arsenal Plane” or “flying bomb truck” is likely to be a modified, high-tech adaptation of the iconic B-52 bomber designed to fire air-to-air weapons, release swarms of mini-drones and provide additional fire-power to 5th generation stealth fighters such as the F-35 and F-22, Pentagon officials and analysts said.

It is also possible that the emerging arsenal plane could be a modified C-130 or combined version of a B-52 and C-130 drawing from elements of each, Pentagon officials said.

Using a B-52, which is already being modernized with new radios and an expanded internal weapons bay, would provide an existing “militarized” platform already engineered with electronic warfare ability and countermeasures designed to thwart enemy air defenses.

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WNU Editor: Using a B-52 (or C-130) will probably be the best (and cheapest) version of an arsenal plane for the U.S. Air Force .... and since money is tight, expect the cheapest version to be accepted.