US sending nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to bomb Daesh

The US is set to deploy its nuclear-capable B-52 bombers against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, a report says.

Citing US officials, the Air Force Times reported on Friday that the US military could begin using its massive Boeing B-52 Stratofortress long-range strategic bombers against Daesh in April.

According to the report, the bombers will replace several Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic strategic bombers, which had returned to their base in Texas after striking Daesh positions near the northern Syrian town of Kobani for several months.

“We’re going to keep the B-52 around,” the Times quoted James “Mike” Holmes, the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, as saying last month.

“It provides some missions for us that are hard to replicate, primarily the range and payload the airplane provides,” he added.

It has not yet been disclosed how many of the bombers will be deployed against Daesh.

The bomber first took to the skies in 1954 and the last time the US military put it into action was in its war in Afghanistan. Citing other officials, the report said the bombers would remain in active service until at least 2040.

Each aircraft is capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds of payload, the officials said.

The military announced on Thursday that three-52 Stratofortress bombers that recently were deployed to Europe will participate in military exercises in Norway.

In early January, the US sent a B-52 bomber for a low altitude flight over South Korea a few days after North Korea allegedly carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.

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