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I imagine some won't, since war does that, but to understand the question you have to realize the B-52 isn't just a bomber anymore. It can serve as a cruise-missile platform and engage targets outside of Russia's air defense bubble. China too.
Would the B-52 Bomber Survive a War with Russia? - 19FortyFive
Europe’s China Policy Has Taken a Sharp Turn. Where Will It Go Next? | ChinaFileWould a B-52 Survive a War With Russia or China Today? –In the era offifth-generation stealth fighters, powerfulair defense systems, and hypersonic missiles a question to ask is why the United States Air Force is still flying the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. First introduced nearly seventy years ago, the bombers are older than any of the current aircrews – and likely those crews’ parents! The bombers remain the largest and most powerful bombers ever to be built, but does aseventy-year-old platformhave a place in the 21st century?
The answer, simply put, is that the bombers may be old but they’re more than capable to take on today’s adversaries.
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First, we must consider that the B-52 Stratofortresses flying today aren’t exactly their grandfather’s bombers – and it is important to stress grandfathers, as it wasn’t until the 1990s that Kelly Flinn became the first female to pilot the aircraft. Moreover, it wasn’t until 2016 that the first B-52 had an all female flight crew.
Just as the crews onboard have changed in demographics, the bombers have evolved too, and been steadily upgraded. Much like the “Ship of Theseus,” where so many parts had been replaced that you question whether it is the same object, the B-52s that were flying in the early Cold War have been significantly upgraded that they’re not really 1950s aircraft anymore.
Along the way there have been notable changes. The B-52 models A to G featured defensive armament in the tail and quad .50-caliber machine guns, while H models employed a single M61 20 mm rotary cannon. The gunners who manned these weapons were enlisted personnel – the only enlisted airmen in a B-52 crew. Today’s Stratofortress bombers are equipped with a full range of air defense threat systems that include a combination of electronic detection, jamming and infrared countermeasures. Moreover, the B-52 can also detect and counter missiles engaging the aircraft from the rear.
The bigger consideration is that while we may think of the B-52 as a “bomber,” it doesn’t need to actually fly over an enemy’s territory as it once did.
The current H models can carry up to twenty air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) including the AGM-86 ALCM, which was actually developed to increase the effectiveness and survivability of the strategic bomber. Each of the missiles can reach speeds of 550 mph (Mach 0.73) and have a reported range of up to 1,500 miles.
The B-52H can also carry Harpoon anti-ship and Have Nap missiles, which were designed for precision attacks against large targets from stand-off ranges.
Though Russia has some extremely advanced and quite capable air defense systems, including the S-400 “Triumf,” the fact remains that the B-52 could launch its weapons from well outside the range of those surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. Additionally, the B-52 could be employed in the so-called “third day of war” along with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II as it functions in its “Beast Mode” where an enemies air defenses have been eliminated. That is when the B-52 could really bring the pain and rain down more traditional yet quite massive bomb loads on an enemy.
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Originally Posted by DGUtley
