WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Air Force awarded the Boeing Company a contract to upgrade the aging communications and other technology systems on ten of its B-52 ling-range strategic bombers, Boeing announced in a statement.
“Those technology enhancements include full-color LCD displays with real-time intelligence feeds overlaid on moving maps, several communication data links that connect via satellite to platforms and troops in the field and an onboard, high speed network that enables aircrew to respond quickly to a mission change or identify and engage new targets with their weapons,” Boeing said in the statement on Wednesday.
The ten communication and technology upgrades will be carried out at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Boeing had previously won a contract to upgrade additional 20 B-52 bombers.
The Air Force introduced the B-52 bomber in the 1950s and it played a major part of the US defense posture against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Air Force has 58 of the high-altitude bombers in active service.
