The B-52 Stratofortress bomber, often affectionately referred to as the “Big, Ugly, Fat Fellow,” or BUFF, is an aircraft whose design history begins at the end of World War 2. The first B-52 bombers were delivered to the United States Air Force in the early 1950s, and the newer marks of that magnificent warbird are still flying today. There’s a good reason for the long service of this wonderful warbird; it may not be as slick, as fast, or as fancy as newer aircraft, but if you need a few dozen square miles of countryside destroyed and you need it destroyed right now, the BUFF can get that done.
Now, Operation Epic Fury, that process of reducing the Iranian theocracy to a cautionary tale in the history books, is seeing the BUFF in and around Iranian skies.
On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command confirmed on X that an armada of B-52s, nicknamed “Stratosaurus” for its advanced years, was used in a strike against “ballistic missile and commander control posts.”
The B-52H is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet. It can carry nuclear or precision-guided conventional ordnance, and it has a payload of approximately 70,000 pounds of mixed ordnance-bombs, mines and missiles, according to the Air Force.
CENTCOM has confirmed that the B-52 is included in the asset list for Operation Epic Fury. So, why does this matter? Here’s why, and I’m going to tell you.
Iran started this conflict with a significant air-defense capacity. Not the newest and not the best, but it was there. One of the first missions Allied aircraft had was reducing these air defenses and gaining air superiority, so that the primary mission of locating and un-aliving regime goblins could continue without distractions. How was that done?
First, we sent in the B-2s. The B-2 is as good as invisible. It’s the real-world version of Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. Just as in Operation Midnight Hammer, the Iranians at the outset of Operation Epic Fury never had any idea that the Spirits were around until everything around them started exploding.
Next, we sent in the B-1s, or BONEs. The BONE isn’t invisible. What it is is faster than a greased weasel dodging an owl. They can run at high Mach numbers and make for a challenging target.
Now, we’re using the BUFFs. The B-52, wonderful though it is, is about as stealthy as a D-9 Caterpillar driving over a pile of wrecked cars. It’s slow. It has the radar cross-section of New Zealand and the infrared signature of an erupting volcano. Its use in and around Iran means one main thing: The Iranians have nothing left with which to shoot at them.
Read More: Watch: US Submarine Sinks Iranian Warship by Torpedo, a First Since World War II
CENTCOM: U.S. Forces Strike Nearly 2,000 Targets As Operation Epic Fury Expands
As the Iraqi Republican Guard learned to their everlasting sorrow in 1991, the last thing anyone with hostile intentions to the United States wants to see 50,000 feet overhead is the distinctive profile of a flight of BUFFs. It’s a sure sign that one is about to have a very, very bad day. The BUFF can carry stand-off weapons, including cruise missiles, and I’ve heard rumors that they have been adapted to launch drones. But the main thing the BUFF has going for it is a big, big bombload. Each BUFF can carry 51 750-pound iron bombs. That’s a lot of BOOM for your buck. And now some Iranian goblins are finding out, like the Iraqi Republican Guard and the North Vietnamese Army before them, that Arc Light means never having to say you’re sorry.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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