The Air Force is scheduled to select an industry lead systems integrator for its B-52 Stand-Off Jammer program, moving the B-52H into the arena of radar-jamming. The Air Force will award $236 million for a 25-month contract to develop the pre-system and demonstration portion of the program. Northrop Grumman and Boeing/BAE are lined up as leading candidates for the work. Air Force plans to modify 16 of the venerable bombers with two outboard radar-jamming pods designed to disrupt air defense networks from long range. USAF expects the Electric BUFFs to reach initial operational capability by 2014. Read our article “The New Way of Electron War,” which describes this new mission for an old bomber.
The U.S. continued to move a significant amount of airpower toward the Middle East in recent days as talks to forge a nuclear deal with Iran hung in the balance. Flight tracking data indicate there was unusually heavy movement of dozens of fighter jets and other assets that might be…
