Gigantic US Spy Plane Lands on a US Aircraft Carrier
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Welcome back to the our channel for a feature on one of the most difficult landing processes in both aviation and maritime. Learn how the US Navy worked hard to try to land a U-2 Dragon Lady on an Aircraft Carrier. I used to work on the CC-130 Hercules in the RCAF, the landings on the U.S.S. Forrestal were done with minimum fuel and the landing gear circuit breaks by passed, so the pilot could use his brakes before the full weight of the aircraft was on the wheels. Why would a B-52 ever need to be able to land on a carrier? It has the range to go anywhere on the planet. A proposed variant of the B-52H was the EB-52H, which would have consisted of 16 modified and augmented B-52H airframes with additional electronic jamming capabilities. This variant would have restored USAF airborne jamming capability that it lost on retiring the EF-111 Raven. The program was canceled in 2005 following the removal of funds for the stand-off jammer. The program was revived in 2007, and cut again in early 2009. In July 2013, the USAF began a fleet-wide technological upgrade of its B-52 bombers called Combat Network Communications Technology to modernize electronics, communications technology, computing, and avionics on the flight deck. CONECT upgrades include software and hardware such as new computer servers, modems, radios, data-links, receivers, and digital workstations for the crew. One update is the AN/ARC-210 Warrior beyond-line-of-sight software programmable radio able to transmit voice, data, and information in-flight between B-52s and ground command and control centers, allowing the transmission and reception of data with updated intelligence, mapping, and targeting information; previous in-flight target changes required copying down coordinates. The ARC-210 allows machine-to-machine transfer of data, useful on long-endurance missions where targets may have moved before the arrival of the B-52. The aircraft will be able to receive information through Link-16. CONECT upgrades will cost $1.1 billion overall and take several years. Funding has been secured for 30 B-52s; the USAF hopes for 10 CONECT upgrades per year, but the rate has yet to be decided
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