During one of the B-52H's final mission in Operation Inherent Resolve, the bomber attacked a weapons storage facility as part of Operation Valley Wolf, an effort by Iraq to clear ISIS terrorists from villages south of Mosul. Video of this strike shows the facility being destroyed, while nearby structures remained intact. “There are memories ... in the collective [consciousness] of B-52s decades ago doing … less discriminate, arguably indiscriminate, bombings,” then-coalition spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said at the time. “I guess that’s where the phrase ‘carpet bombing’ originally came from, back in the Linebacker days.” “Those days,” Warren said, “are long gone. The B-52 is a precision strike weapon system. ... It will conduct the same type of precision strikes that we’ve seen for the last 20 months here in this theater. So it is simply a replacement for the B-1. Obviously, the B-52 does have a long and very illustrious history. So we do like to talk about it. But really, it’s ... simply another platform from which we can launch our precision strikes.” The pace has definitely picked up since. As of late December, B-52s had flown 430 sorties and dropped 2,565 weapons against ISIS targets. They’ve provided a large portion of the air support to Iraqi forces as they moved on the ISIS-held city of Mosul and have flown
As already highlighted, the USAF B-52s have mainly flown Close Air Support and Air Interdiction mainly delivering two types of JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions): the 500-lb laser-guided GBU-54s and the 2,000-lb GPS-guided GBU-31V3 “bunker busters” loaded onto the Heavy Stores Adaptor Beam pylons.
The typical loadout includes 3x GBU-31s and 8x GBU-54s along with PGMs carried inside the bomb bay of the B-52H Stratofortress. With the 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade the Buffs can carry up to 16 external laser JDAMs (8 per pylon) as well as 8 internal J-series weapons mounted on a conventional rotary launcher: a mix of PGMs that gives the Buffs the ability to deliver attack both stationary and moving ground targets.
In particular, the GBU-54s, that combines 500-lb Mk-82 warhead and the precision strike capability delivered by its dual Laser/GPS mode guidance system can be used against targets with reduced collateral damage.
For hardened targets or concrete shelters, the weapons of choice is the GBU-31s.The JDAM is a GPS aided inertially guided bomb. The Guidance and Control Unit (GCU) containing a HG1700 RLG, GEM-III GPS receiver and computer package is installed inside the bomb tailkit. The GCU is used on the bunker busting 2,000-lb class BLU-109/B forged steel penetrator warhead.
