Take Advantage of Weapon Bay, B-52H Stratofortress Strategic Bomber Transport Cargo Containers

Apart from its main function as a strategic bomber, apparently the B-52H Stratofortress can carry out other missions, namely carrying special cargo containers that are loaded in the weapon bay area (bomb bay). 

Barksdale Air Force Base recently announced that four B-52H units are taking part in a demonstration that will allow for a reduced logistical footprint for future operational deployment of the bomber.

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Quoted from Thedrive.com (30/8/2022), four B-52Hs from the 2nd Bomb Wing were equipped with relatively large cargo containers adapted to the bomb bay to test the US Air Force's rapid deployment concept. 

The four B-52Hs were deployed north to Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington between August 16-19 to conduct exercises related to the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) mission.

ACE's mission focuses on the practice of unpredictable distributed operations from dispersed locations thereby increasing survivability and enhancing better combat strength on the front line. 

The ACE exercises are intended to assist in establishing a methodology that enables Air Force to operate in a more flexible and ingenious manner through the use of rugged and remote facilities and a small logistics footprint.

That aspect in particular applies to the demonstration importance of the B-52 for cargo transport missions. With the support of the On-Board Cargo System (BOCS), the four B-52s can support roles outside the bomber mission, namely as their own cargo support aircraft.

The US Air Force describes the BOCS as a cargo container designed to connect to hardpoints in the B-52H's weapon bay. Each B-52 is capable of carrying two BOCS, one in each weapon bay which can accommodate up to 2,267 kg of maintenance and support equipment. So that overall one B-52 can carry a cargo load of 4,535 kg. BOCS was born in concept from Air Warfare Battlelab 2006.

For the record, four B-52 units each carry 4,535 kg of cargo, which is still less than the maximum payload capacity of one special cargo aircraft. For example, the C-130 has a maximum payload of 19,000 kg, while the C-17 Globemaster has a payload of 77,500 kg. 

So a BOCS-equipped B-52 could certainly help eliminate the need for something like the C-130 to support early ACE deployments, as has been done before, but ongoing logistical concerns will remain.

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The type of cargo that can be carried by BOCS is also limited by the system dimensions and the dimensions of the space in the weapon bay, so it will not be able to carry larger items that are normally transported by conventional cargo aircraft.

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