Gorgon: "[T]hree sisters who are described as having hair made of living, venomous snakes and horrifying visages that turned those who beheld them to stone."
If it makes you feel better, it is very unlikely that they contain nuclear weapons. NATO has no interest in bombing anything on Ukrainian soil with nukes. and if the US wants to bomb Russia they would use an ICBM instead of an airplane that is (relatively) easy to shoot down.
> It's official: B-52 bombers are no longer authorized to carry nuclear gravity bombs," Kristensen said in a tweet earlier this week. "New Air Force instruction describes 'removal of B61-7 and B83-1 from B-52H approved weapons configuration.'
> "The B-52 remains the premier stand-off weapons platform utilizing the air-launched cruise missile as the main nuclear deterrent. While B61s and B83s are no longer equipped on the B-52, the weapons remain in the [B-2 Spirit] inventory,"
They can still fly with nuclear armed cruise missiles, just not gravity bombs (in what environment could something like that be used from a B-52 anyhow?)
They had B52s circling over Warsaw when Russia first started this whole thing too. Just like any other military plane you see on these sites (adsbexchange.com is better because it does not remove military planes and instead makes it easy to filter for them so you see only military planes) you only see them when they want to be seen. Without the transponder switched on you won't see them there. Russia could still see them on radar though.
Usually only things like transporters, AWACS and the in air refuelers (Stratotankers and such) fly with transponders on. But ask yourself why there would be a Stratotanker circling all day if there were no fighter jets to refuel? Sometimes you can see a Eurofighter or some such turn on their transponders too when escorting a tanker back or during takeoff and landing.
The fidelity (and resilience) of firing solutions decreases with distance. For all practical purposes those B-52s are not vulnerable.
B-52s equipped with air launched cruise missiles are very relevant in today's world. It's a flying weapons bank that can be handed firing solutions from other assets (e.g. an F-35 flying stealth in a contested area).
Readit News
Gorgon: "[T]hree sisters who are described as having hair made of living, venomous snakes and horrifying visages that turned those who beheld them to stone."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
I live in Romania.
> "The B-52 remains the premier stand-off weapons platform utilizing the air-launched cruise missile as the main nuclear deterrent. While B61s and B83s are no longer equipped on the B-52, the weapons remain in the [B-2 Spirit] inventory,"
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/18/b-52-will-no-...
Usually only things like transporters, AWACS and the in air refuelers (Stratotankers and such) fly with transponders on. But ask yourself why there would be a Stratotanker circling all day if there were no fighter jets to refuel? Sometimes you can see a Eurofighter or some such turn on their transponders too when escorting a tanker back or during takeoff and landing.
In today's world, a B52 is only useful if the US has absolute air superiority in that airspace. Romanian airspace is a vulnerable location.
B-52s equipped with air launched cruise missiles are very relevant in today's world. It's a flying weapons bank that can be handed firing solutions from other assets (e.g. an F-35 flying stealth in a contested area).