Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
9/18/2015
The first of 30 operational B-52H bombers has been converted “from a nuclear to a conventional only capability aircraft” at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Air Force Global Strike Command announced yesterday. The conversion process, which “preserves the full conventional capabilities of the B-52,” is intended to ensure U.S. compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia, the announcement says. The treaty limits the U.S. and Russia to “no more than 1,550 deployed warheads; 800 deployed and non-deployed intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and nuclear capable heavy bombers; and 700 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs and nuclear capable heavy bombers,” according to the announcement. The Air Force also plans to convert “12 non-operational B-52H aircraft currently maintained in storage” in Arizona, the announcement says, adding that all conversions are scheduled for completion by early 2017.
