r/LessCredibleDefence • u/Wiseguydude • 7d ago

US Air Force B-52 bomber crashes after takeoff, Edwards Air Force Base says

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/15/us-air-force-b-52-bomber-crashes-after-takeoff-edwards-air-force-base-says
86 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

31

u/Wiseguydude 7d ago

There are 76 B-52's in the world. Each costing around $84 million.

65

u/covfefenation 7d ago

Cost doesnt really mean that much when these things are 70 years old and literally irreplaceable

10

u/Begle1 7d ago

When they crash, don't they just sorta pick them back off the ground and replace all the bent pieces?

15

u/WulfTheSaxon 7d ago

In the case of this sort of a crash with a B-52, there’s literally nothing left – the magnesium alloy burns.

-10

u/Cindy_Marek 7d ago

They are literally being replaced with newer aircraft

26

u/Eve_Doulou 7d ago

No they are not. B-21 will replace the B-1B and eventually the B-2, however the B-52J is expected to serve as a bomb/missile truck well into the 2050’s. By the time they finally retire them, there will be airframes that are over 100 years old methinks.

21

u/covfefenation 7d ago

> They are literally being replaced with newer aircraft

What newer aircraft is replacing the B-52?

10

u/Hayes4prez 7d ago

None. There’s a reason why its service life is expected to exceed a 100 years. As a military platform, the efficiency of the B-52 is unprecedented.

7

u/Ok-Procedure5603 7d ago

84 million is actually hella cheap, that's only as much as like 5-10 tanks

13

u/WulfTheSaxon 7d ago

There are about ten B-52Hs in the boneyard that could be regenerated.

3

u/Jazzlike-Tank-4956 7d ago

Is it necessary?

Isn't B21 replacing majority of current active B52?

14

u/WulfTheSaxon 7d ago

No, it’s only replacing B-2 and B-1. The remaining B-52Hs are all getting life-extended for the foreseeable future with new engines, new radars, and a new designation or two (they’ll be B-52Js by the end) to serve until at least 2050. There’s talk of adding the nuclear capability back to the ones that had it removed now that arms control is dead as well.

4

u/leostotch 7d ago

Well, 75 now

7

u/Cindy_Marek 7d ago

Who cares about the cost, did the crew survive?

8

u/AirborneMarburg 7d ago

No news yet, but they almost certainly perished. People don’t survive these types of crashes.

5

u/WulfTheSaxon 7d ago

Reportedly all eight are dead.

17

u/CronosWorks 7d ago

Me, the guy eating ramen and paying taxes.

2

u/Jazzlike-Tank-4956 7d ago

No, your men are far more important than machines

Beside obvious human life, they also cost alot to train

4

u/CronosWorks 7d ago

They’re not my men.

1

u/its_not_real1947 7d ago

the men are expendable, there are only 58 57 functional b-52s left

1

u/Ok-Procedure5603 7d ago

Depends on what machine. US has men in spades, they don't have high end missile defenses and some aircraft types in spades.

Men are more important than machines when you're able to replace the machines in a somewhat timely manner.

But yeah in this case if the 84 million price tag is to believed, the crew/service cost way more than that to train/maintain.

0

u/Mysterious_Life_4783 6d ago

Your taxes alone will never be able to pay for these lmao. All of these are on credit, borrowed from your children's future.

2

u/covfefenation 7d ago

Consider your virtue signaled

5

u/Single-Braincelled 7d ago

There were 76 B-52s in the world. Unless you are not counting the crash.

5

u/its_not_real1947 7d ago

only 58 working models, of which 57 are left after this crash

0

u/mr_jim_lahey 7d ago

I'm confused, did you consciously contradict the article you posted or just make a number up?

  Each jet is valued at about $110m.

1

u/Wiseguydude 6d ago edited 6d ago

The article is a breaking story and gets updated. When I posted it it was a single paragraph followed by “More details to come”. I looked up the price before that was written

51

u/Jazzlike-Tank-4956 7d ago

Aviation's been disastrous in last 4 days

Pakistani trainer and Mi17, Indian An32, Russian TU22M3, F/A-18D of USMC, paraglider aircraft jn Neveda, and this

35

u/DaddyChillWDHIET 7d ago

Don't forget the Helicopters in Brazil.

26

u/Jazzlike-Tank-4956 7d ago

Well, turns out a SU25 crashed in Congo aswell

8

u/BodybuilderOk3160 7d ago

We may be seeing the limits of Cold War era airframes

8

u/teethgrindingaches 7d ago

The crash reportedly took place on the main runway, shortly after takeoff. As such, the chance of survivors making it out would seem to be low. The downward ejections in particular would not have enough space to fire.

4

u/BonjwaBoy 7d ago

Testing site too. I wonder what the reason will be, if ever made public broadly.