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Boeing B-52 strategic bomber taking off
Boeing B-52 strategic bomber taking off

A strategic bomber is a large aircraft designed to drop large amounts of ordnance onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating an enemy's capacity to wage war. A bomber is a Military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets primarily by dropping Bombs on them A bomb is any of a range of devices that typically rely on the Exothermic Chemical reaction of an Explosive material to produce an extremely Unlike tactical bombers, which are used in the battle zone to attack troops and military equipment, strategic bombers are built to fly into an enemy's heartland to destroy strategic targets e. g. major military installations, factories and cities. In addition to strategic bombing, strategic bombers can be used for tactical missions. Strategic bombing is a Military strategy used in a Total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability to wage war rather Tactical bombing uses Aircraft to attack troops and military equipment in the battle zone

Contents

First and Second World Wars

At the start of the Second World War, most strategic bombing was carried out by medium bombers, typically twin-engined with several gun positions. A medium bomber is a Bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium bombloads over medium distances primarily to distinguish them from the much larger Heavy bombers Bigger two and four-engined designs were being developed and these came to replace the medium bomber designs.

By the end of the Second World War, the heavy bomber was the aircraft usually used for bombing the enemies cities and infrastructure. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A heavy bomber is a Bomber aircraft of the largest size and typically longest ranges

Cold war and later

During the Cold War the U. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the S. and United Kingdom on one side and the USSR on the other kept nuclear-armed strategic bombers ready to launch at a moment's notice as part of the deterrent strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 This article refers to deterrent theories of punishment For the legal theory of justice see Deterrence (legal. Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale Most strategic bombers of the two superpowers were designed to deliver nuclear weapons. A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. For a time, B-52 Stratofortress bombers were kept in the air around the clock, orbiting fail-safe points near the Soviet border. Fail-safe or fail-secure describes a device or feature which in the event of failure, responds in a way that will cause no harm or at least a minimum of harm The RAF's V-bombers were directed against targets in European Russia and would have been able to reach and destroy cities like Kiev or Moscow before US bombers. History Early development RAF Bomber Command ended World War II with a policy of using heavy four- Piston-engined bombers for massed

More recent strategic bombers like the Rockwell International (now Boeing) B-1B Lancer bomber, Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber incorporate stealth features in their design in an effort to avoid detection. The Boeing Company is a major Aerospace and defense corporation originally founded by William E WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Tupolev ( Туполев) is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Moscow. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Northrop Grumman Corporation ( is an Aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Stealth technology also known as LOT (Low Observability Technology is a sub-discipline of military Electronic countermeasures which covers a range of techniques used with Non-stealthy strategic bombers, e. g. , the venerable Boeing B-52 Stratofortress or the equally venerable Tupolev Tu-95 are still relevant through the use of air-launched cruise missiles and other "stand-off" weapons like JSOW and JDAM. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout A cruise missile is a guided Missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system usually a Jet engine, to allow The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon ( JSOW) is the product of a joint venture between the United States Navy and Air Force to deploy a standardized Overview The JDAM is not a weapon rather it is a "bolt-on" upgrade for unguided gravity bombs installed during build up of the munition by Naval Ordnancemen or Air Force Indeed, it is likely that the USAF B-52 fleet will, with continuing upgrades, outlive the B-1B fleet. However, the USAF has recently launched a program for a new strategic bomber to complement the current fleet; it is likely that this bomber will also serve as a replacement for both the B-52 and B-1. In the case of the Russian VVS (Air Forces), no new strategic aircraft will likely enter service in the next 20 or so years and the current Tu-95, Tu-142, Tu-26 and Tu-160 fleet will be periodically updated, as it was seen in the 1990's with the Tu-22M fleet.

During the Cold War, strategic bombers were almost certainly armed with nuclear weapons. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. However, since the end of the Cold War, strategic bombers have exclusively been deployed using non-nuclear, conventional weapons. During Operation Desert Storm, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, American B-52s and B-1s were employed in both strategic and tactical roles. The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U The 2003 invasion of Iraq, from March 20 to May 1 2003 was spearheaded by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia During the 1979-1988 Soviet-Afghan war, many Tu-95 carried out several mass bombings on several regions of the country. The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War or just the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, was a nine-year conflict involving

Notable strategic bombers

These were the bombers used in the main or that represented a shift in heavy bomber design. With (Maximum bomb load). In practice, the bomb load carried was dependant on factors such as the distance to target and the type or size of the bombs used.

World War I

World War II

Cold War

Bombload can include nuclear armed missiles as well as conventional bombs

Post Cold War

Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber in flight
Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber in flight

Future

See also

References

  1. ^ theoretical maximum
  2. ^ for the Mark III
  3. ^ Internal load
  4. ^ New Long-Range Bomber On Horizon For 2018
Strategic bombing is a Military strategy used in a Total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability to wage war rather Carpet bombing refers to the tactical bombing of a strategic area usually by the use of large numbers of unguided Gravity bombs often with a high proportion of incendiary A tactical bomber is a relatively small Aircraft used in the battle zone to attack troops and military equipment for Tactical bombing.
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