The B-52 bomber, a symbol of military might, continues to play a crucial role in the strategic operations of our armed forces. Join us for an exclusive tour at the Minot Air Force Base, guided by Major Nick Ponce, offering an insider's view of this legendary aircraft. ~~~ While the necessity of canning food has diminished with the year-round availability of fresh produce in stores, the art of home canning is experiencing a remarkable resurgence. Lilley Halloran from Harvest Public Media presents an insightful report on the enduring history of canning and its recent revival among modern households. ~~~ In the latest episode of Prairie Pulse, we delve into the complexities of the current U.S. political landscape. Dr. Nicholas Howard, a distinguished Political Science Professor from Concordia College, provides a thorough analysis of the key dynamics shaping the 2024 political scene.
Highlights of the B-52 Interview:
- Overview of the B-52 Bomber: Major Ponce provides a detailed introduction to the B-52, particularly the B-52H models built in the early 1960s, emphasizing their long service life and continued relevance.
- Strategic Role of the B-52: Discussion on how the B-52 fulfills a strategic role in the U.S. Air Force, including deterrence and a variety of munition options for different mission sets.
- Role of an Electronic Warfare Officer: Major Ponce explains his duties focusing on the defense of the aircraft, including mission planning and adapting to different environments.
- Training and Simulation: Insights into the rigorous training and use of simulators to prepare for electronic warfare and stay updated with global threats.
- Munitions and Precision: Information on the types of munitions carried by the B-52, including GPS-guided bombs and their precision, contrasting with the traditional concept of carpet bombing.
- B-52's Nuclear Capability: Discussion about the B-52's capability to carry nuclear weapons and the use of training versions for crew preparation.
- Aircraft Adaptation and Maintenance: Major Ponce talks about how the B-52 adjusts during weapon loading and its maintenance, including its unique features like wing flexibility and the use of parachutes for landing.
- Crew Composition and Changes: Details on the crew structure of the B-52, historical changes, and future upgrades including the shift from a five-person to a four-person crew.
- Operational Readiness and Mission Challenges: Major Ponce discusses the challenges in maintaining mission readiness and adapting to changing geopolitical situations.
- Technological Advancements: Information on recent technological updates to the B-52, enhancing communication and navigation.
- Personal Journey to the B-52: Major Ponce shares his personal journey from enlisted maintenance personnel to becoming an Electronic Warfare Officer, inspired by seeing a B-52 as a child.
- B-52's Global Reach and Adaptability: Discussion on the B-52's global operational capabilities, fuel range, and adaptability to different environments.
- Training and Mentoring Young Airmen: Insights into the training and challenges faced by young airmen, emphasizing the importance of supporting them in diverse and demanding conditions.
- Experience of Long Missions: Major Ponce shares his experience on managing long-duration flights, highlighting the cramped conditions and strategies to cope with extended missions.
Transcript:
Main Street
Major, welcome to Main Street.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Thank you, great to be here.
Main Street
Tell me about this massive, massive aircraft.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
This is the B-52. The B-52 began its life in 1952, which drives its name as well. The current models that we have, the last models of the B-52, are the B-52H models.
They were all built in 1960 and 1961, going off the lines in 1961 and 1962. And this model right here, 1032, was line numbered in 1961. Been around the block quite a bit, but it still has a few, a bit of life left in it.
Main Street
How is it that a plane that was built in 1960 can be a critical part of the United States Air Force mission today?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
We fill the strategic role for the United States Air Force. We have a multitude of different mission sets. We have deterrence in mind, which is our main goal.
The B-52 has a wide array of different munitions and mission sets that can be used by our commanders, as well as the President of the United States, in the different options and ways that we can use this aircraft.
Main Street
You're an electronic warfare officer. What's that mean?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
I operate different systems on the aircraft, but my primary responsibility is defense of the aircraft. So I mission plan and I keep defense in mind for the aircraft whenever it goes into different environments and what that may entail.
Main Street
How do you train for that? How do you simulate potential electronic work, not in a real-time war scenario?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
We have a lot of different simulators that we have that we can actually operate with, and a bunch of it is just staying in the books, being current on what the current world, the state of the world is at that time. So we're always ready and we're always looking forward to what the next threat and what the next step that we have to do to prepare this aircraft to go into the next conflict, should it arise, if we are called to do so.
Main Street
We're literally five feet, 10 feet away from missiles. What are we looking at?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
So this is a bomb. This will be a GBU-31. This is a version one of that munition.
So this is a general purpose bomb made into a GPS guided training, a GPS guided tail kit. So what that does is it allows the munitions to be GPS guided to their target. If you think of the B-52, a lot of times people are going to think of carpet bombing, large amounts of weapons over a large space, but that is not the case with these weapons.
They're GPS guided and they're very precise to deliver our weapons in on the targets that's intended to be dropped on.
Main Street
So I'm looking at two of these and each of them are probably what, 12, 15 feet long.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah.
Main Street
How many of these might be in a B-52 for a mission?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
For our internal bay that we have the connections form, we'll have eight in the bay and then you can have up to six of these on each of the wings. In different configurations, you can have different loadouts with different numbers based on the weight, but these being 2000 pound munitions, that's how many you can carry.
Main Street
The B-52 can also carry nuclear weapons.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
They can. The training ones that we have there that are loaded in the bay, those are dummy for our loaders to train them on a load them. Those are AGM-86 Bravos, which is a training version of our nuclear payload.
So these are training versions of an AGM, so that's air-to-ground missile 158, so that's our JASM.
Main Street
We're watching the wings fall down, move a little bit. What's happening?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
They're adjusting the aircraft and they're training loading munitions on it. So what that is, is the aircraft shifting based on the weight of them loading weapons on it as they're doing it. So always training, always practicing different scenarios that we might have in where our maintainers will have to load weapons accurately and responsibly based on whatever could be called upon.
Main Street
How wide is the B-52?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Roughly 150, 50 feet wide on its wingspan.
Main Street
Eight engines?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yes.
Main Street
Is there any other aircraft in the fleet that has eight engines in it?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
No, no, currently not. Very unique in that aspect. These are a conventional standoff weapon, so what that does is it allows us to have standoff so we can release the weapons not over where we are striking.
Main Street
So they have range?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
They do have range, so they're cruise missiles. That gives us flexible options as well as a responsive means of employing in different environments where we necessarily would not employ otherwise.
This is a GBU-31 version three. So this is the same similar weapon that we were talking about with the other JDAM weapon, but this gives us a penetrative capability with that. So more general purpose on the other side, and this one has a more penetrative capability.
And this is a laser guided munition. This is a GBU-12, so a 500 pound laser guided weapon. So we can use aircraft targeting pods to put laser energy and guide this weapon towards it, or we could have different parties on the ground.
If we were supporting them, they could guide weapons to where they would like to have them. So again, precision is the name of the game with that as well.
Main Street
Primarily, are all weapons these days precision guided?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Predominantly on the B-52, what we typically employ with are going to be guided, but not necessarily the case all around. I can't speak to a multitude of different aircraft. That's what we strive for.
This is a ADM-160. This is a miniature air launch decoy. This is a decoy system that we launched from the B-52.
Main Street
What's the purpose of a decoy?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
It is a decoy in the name. So it has different roles that can simulate other responses.
Main Street
To put other adversarial weapon systems off track?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yes, that's the easy way of putting it.
Main Street
And I know there's there are certain things you can't talk about today.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yep.
Main Street
And you have to be very general.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Oh, yeah. Yep. In the information.
Yeah, but that's the perfect way of describing that one. So I would keep it at that. So the rest of the ones that we have, we also have mines, which is another different mission set that we have.
The mines that we currently release off the aircraft are, they are not guided in that we are going to release them with a trajectory ballistically as well. So those weapons are currently not GPS guided or precision. And then we also have leaflet dispensers as well.
So it's not always about different effects that we have. The other effect that we always overlook is our leaflets. So we use that to let adversaries know that we are in the area, as well as what could come in the future, as well as our friendly forces that are in the area, let them know that there is an ally on their side, or to help limit civilian casualties in a certain area whenever there could be a possible conflict as well.
Different aspects of our mission, we always think and focus on the weapon side of it. But the leaflet dispensers is another one we often overlook, I would say. So we've kind of gone over a lot of the other, the main weapons that we have for the aircraft.
We could go up in the aircraft if you like, and we can start to kind of like talk about the general crew layout of how we operate. So we have a crew of five, that's going to consist of two pilots, two weapons systems officers, as well as one electronic warfare officer currently. We are underway to upgrade the aircraft, which is called the radar modernization program.
So we are going to update the radar, as well as some of the electronics on the aircraft to eventually move to a four-person crew, which is going to have two weapons systems officers that are going to operate offensively and defensively on the aircraft.
Main Street
When the aircraft was first produced, how many people did it take to operate the aircraft?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Originally when the aircraft, this, the H model originally had six people on board, so it had the same five-man crew that we have, but it also had an enlisted gunner, which was also on here. We'll look in the crew compartment. On the G and the H models, it was a remotely operated gun that was on the aircraft.
Following Desert Storm, they removed that position from the aircraft and we moved to our five-person crew, but it was originally a six-person aircraft with a tail gunner, the last tail gunner that we had in the U.S. Air Force.
Main Street
This aircraft, our B-52, has flown around the world. Theoretically, how long could this fly and how does refueling work?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
With aerial refueling, the oil on the engines is probably the only limitation. It's a very long time. Couldn't specify exactly how long it would be, but the limitation would be the oil on the engines, but as far as fuel goes, we could keep getting refueled and go as far as we need to go.
Main Street
And realistically, here from Minot, you could get an order and be off to literally anywhere in the world in an hour?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
From getting the order to leaving, yes, yeah, yeah, that's very realistic. Yeah, if the order comes, we're going to do everything we can to get where we need to be on time.
Main Street
When people in Minot see the B-52 flying above them, what do you think they think?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
If you look at it and you see it just in the sky, it will look just like any other aircraft, but as you can see here with a closer look, you can see the external weapons mounting. It's quite a different aircraft in general.
Main Street
How did you end up becoming involved with the B-52?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
For me, I was actually prior enlisted. I began my career as an enlisted maintenance person, so I used to work on the electronics on aircraft. I then was able to strive.
I always wanted to fly, so I continued going to school, going to college, completed my degree, applied to become an officer, and got accepted through combat systems officer training, and then decided that one of my top choices was going to be the B-52 and have been here ever since. Why the B-52? For me particularly, I actually grew up, I remembered seeing one in central Texas where I grew up.
There was a low level route that went over part of Texas where I live. I actually saw one fly over my house one time as a kid, and it's just something that was always, it has always been familiar, and it is part of the U.S. Air Force inventory for such a long time, and you can't think of the Air Force without the B-52 being involved in that. Is there any aircraft, to your knowledge, that's been in service longer?
Some of the KC-135 models that we have, they have older tail numbers as well than us, and I know there's some Navy C-2s additionally that have older tail numbers than us currently.
Main Street
I'm told this skin of the B-52 can bend.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yes, yep. Tell me about that. So the wing roots are actually made to flex based on the different loads of the aircraft, so as we're up at altitude, the wings of the aircraft actually flex up to be able to support the weight of the aircraft.
You can see the different ripples that you have based on the side of the skin. It's just, it has a certain amount of flex that's built into it, which has attributed to its long enduring structural integrity, which has kept it in the Air Force as long as it has been. And these aircraft are also regularly maintained by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center down at Tinker Air Force Base, and they're regularly checking on them to make sure that they're still safe to fly in the Air Force inventory.
Main Street
You talked about new radars being installed. Are there any other technological advancements or improvements that happened to this aircraft that you can discuss?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, we've had the Kinect upgrade. So what that did is it upgraded some of our radio systems that were on the aircraft, as well as provided a digital interface for us to not only get different navigational improvements for situational awareness, but also has revived the overall communication on the aircraft as well.
Main Street
What surprises you most about a B-52?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
This aircraft was originally designed to be a nuclear capable aircraft, but it's done so much since then. You think back to the Vietnam War, and it was called to switch from a nuclear role to that conventional role, and it has kept up the pace ever since with every different mission set which has been added to the inventory.
Main Street
Let's continue our tour of the B-52.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
So you can see this is the entrance hatch.
Main Street
This is not your average jet way.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, it's not it's not your normal way of entering an aircraft. Despite the aircraft being as large as it is, it's actually quite small in the actual compartment of the aircraft. So you'll see pretty quickly there's only the windows at the pilot's compartment, so all of the other crew members don't have natural light that's coming through.
So it can become disorienting, so different crew members have to take different adjustments when they're in this aircraft. Just for one, the electronic warfare actually sits backwards in the aircraft, so that's a different orientation thing that we have to think about when we're training new people.
Main Street
So literally, I would describe this entry into this massive airplane as very similar to someone's garage attic pull-down.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, yeah, that's a good way of seeing it. The door falls down, you got to make sure it doesn't hit you in the face, and then we have to carefully climb up it. Something else unique about this aircraft is it has four individual trucks for landing gear.
Your typical aircraft is going to have a nose landing gear as well as two main landing gear. This one has four that are in the middle of the aircraft, and the front two wheels steer to keep it aligned, which is something completely unique about this aircraft versus any of the other ones. We actually use a parachute to help extend the life of our brakes.
It is the actual, the parachute's the same one that was on the space shuttle back when that was used. So when the aircraft lands, a parachute deploys. It does, yes.
We don't always need the parachute, but based on the weight of the aircraft, a parachute may be required. Additionally, we try to use it as much as we can to extend the life of the brakes. Because it slows it down and helps it come to a complete stop.
And in North Dakota, where we have the inclement weather that we have, having more stopping power is always a good thing.
Main Street
Other times when this airbase is shut down that you cannot take off or you cannot land here?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, we've actually seen that where the weather is so inclement that we can't land, but we have a civil engineering squadron on this base that keeps the base plowed very well. So it is their highest priority to keep the runway, taxiways, as well as the roads on base plowed so that we can have maintainers, air crews, different support personnel get to where they need to to support this mission and get the aircraft off the ground. If the snow is thick enough, we'll do anything that we can to operate this aircraft safely.
But we always have support people fighting to get us there to be able to take off. So on the wings, on the right wing here, we typically will have a targeting pod. So what that is is a camera that's on our wings.
We can use that to look at ground parties, as well as different targets to make sure we're striking the right target, as well as it has a laser which is on it, which helps with those laser-guided munitions we talked about earlier.
Main Street
I know you're not a pilot, but generally speaking, how difficult is it to fly a B-52?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
It is one of the most pilot-demanding aircraft in the inventory. So our pilots are very, very skilled in what they do. The aircraft actually flies with spoilers as opposed to ailerons.
So there's actually spoilers that come up on the wings that actually directs the air to turn the aircraft. So what that does is it gives it generally different flying characteristics than any other plane. If you ever see one taking off, it actually flies up more or less with the the wings level instead of pointing up like how your typical airliner would be.
And that's just based on the way that the wings are designed. So there's different ways that the aircraft flies, and our pilots have to think differently about how the aircraft flies. And it just keeps them on their feet.
And it's a very manually intensive aircraft compared to newer ones that we have in the inventory. So they're very skilled at what they do.
Main Street
We're enjoying our conversation with Major Nick Ponce. He's an electronic warfare officer and an assistant director of operations for the 69th Bomb Squadron. He performs his services on T-52s.
These are large bombs or missiles that we're looking at.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
So these are the AGM-86 Bravo's. So these are loaders that we have for our nuclear weapons. It has a pylon that attaches to the aircraft.
So our weapons load personnel, they're loading the entire pylon on the aircraft. And they're very well versed at what they do. There's a lot of safety protocols that they have to abide by.
They have to do it in any kind of environment, inclement weather, hot weather, they're there ready to go.
Main Street
So tell me about how alerts work with the B-52. Are there a set of crew pilots always on the ready, ready to go at a moment's notice, 24-7-365?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
We're currently not on 365 alert, but we are always prepared to be if we should be called to do so.
Main Street
So what are your challenges as assistant director of operations? What do you worry about for the 69th Bomb Squadron?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Mainly mission readiness. So us, all the different missions that we described earlier, being ready for that is very difficult. So we have a multitude of different requirements that we have.
One, to fly the aircraft and two, to be mission ready to do so. So we have to regularly train to all the different tasks that we would do in a combat environment. And we always have to be ready to do so.
Like I stated, we're not on 365 day alert, but we have to be ready to be. And part of that is constantly being up to date with all of the different currencies that we have.
Main Street
And I know you can't talk about specifics of any geopolitical events, but generally speaking, does that preparedness change from a decade ago to five years ago to today with what you have to be prepared for?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, it's constantly changing. As you're well aware of, the world and everything is changing around us. And like that, the B-52 is changing.
Like we've stated from the original mission, the different changes that have gone forward with that, we have to be ready to do what's called upon for our nation. As airmen, we're ready to do so. And this aircraft is very ready to do so as well.
And it's a very, I like to call it the Swiss Army knife for the Air Force. All the different weapons that I described to you, the sky is the limit. A lot was tested.
NASA previously had this aircraft so that we could test different lifting vehicles and different types of aircraft that were launched off the wings of this. So that makes it a very, very stable platform for anything that we could be called upon to be used in the future.
Main Street
So relatively kind of a slow, slower.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
It is, it is. But with that, because of our range for the aircraft, it takes less to get us places because we have such a long range. Our capabilities are always getting to the place is going to be the most difficult task in a lot of circumstances.
And the range of this aircraft is substantial.
Main Street
Major, the staff that you oversee, some of these young men are 18, 19 years old. What do they bring to the table? And how do you train them?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
We'll have younger, younger airmen enlist in the Air Force. Like any workplace, we would deal with the same problems that you have with any workplace.
Our leadership is very accommodating to any circumstances that our airmen would have. What makes it difficult for us is we need to do everything that we can to support them, especially in diverse locations, such as Minot Air Force Base or anywhere that we could be called to deploy or be ready to go to. There's often different family challenges that we have with that, just because we're so busy doing this.
And then the challenges that we have in winter up here requires more time to prepare our households, to prepare our workspaces, to be able to operate in these environments. Like I say, the Civil Engineering Squadron on Minot, as well as our maintainers, do a good job at getting this base ready to do it. But we also have to have that same amount of care to our families as well.
Main Street
We're watching a payload being removed, essentially, away from the B-52's private core.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, so it uses...they have a whole loading vehicle that is able to support the weight of it. And there's many different qualifications that these maintainers have to have in order to operate it. So that's one of the other challenges as members enlist in the Air Force.
They do a multitude of different tasks that you would not expect individuals to be able to do on the outside world. But they're trained to do so, and they're quite adept at what they do in a fairly reasonable amount of time. Like we have young individuals, but they are very well versed and very capable at doing any of the tasks that we ask them to do.
So you're going to go up it like a ladder. Treat it like a ladder. Foot here.
There is a handle right here. And then another hand there to go up it like a ladder.
Main Street
So you're going to set me up first?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Let me come up and I'll guide you. So this is the downstairs. So this is where the two weapons systems officers operate.
So they have different navigational systems. You have a navigator who sits on the right and a radar navigator who sits on the left. The radar navigator is in charge of this compartment.
So the navigator ensures that we get to the target on time. They work as a team to make sure that we get our weapons where they need to go accurately.
Main Street
Forgive me, Major, but the consoles that I'm looking at, they look old.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah. Like I stated, this model hasn't gotten our Kinect upgrade. So there's a lot of different radio systems which are updated on our current B-52s, but there's a good amount of these systems still on our current model as well.
And then these are also ejection seats. So these on the panels already had the different pods, which are beneath the chin of the aircraft with these two crew members actually eject downward. Very different.
As you can see in here, it's quite dark, kind of claustrophobic if you're claustrophobic at all. We fly very long durations. Oftentimes my longest sortie is 33 hours.
We have a small urinal system behind there, but it's still quite small.
Main Street
Simple question. Are these comfortable seats? They don't look like it to me, Major.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah. So you can see the seat there. So we'll have a small cushion that's there, but we also have a parachute which we can strap onto.
Just based on how long we sit on the aircraft, it can become uncomfortable during long durations. We can go up to the upper deck. Climb up the ladder and then you'll transition to the pole.
Yep.
Main Street
Geese, this is just stunning to me how little room there is.
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, we have the four members which are up upstairs. So we have the electronic warfare officer who sits backwards on that side, and then we have the old gunner seat which we use for instructors. It's an extra seat for instructors as well.
So that can become disorienting. And then we have a bunk here for our long duration sorties. We use it to store extra equipment or we'll have extra pilots that will actually swap out with each other to get relief as well.
Main Street
How do you deal with 33 hours?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
We'll pack food.
Main Street
Pack your lunch?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
For the duration of it, yeah. That's where the two pilots sit up there. You can see the eight engine throttles which are there.
Main Street
Either side can control the aircraft?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
Yeah, so they can access the throttles from the middle. So both pilots can access the throttles and the yokes on both sides. You can actually fly from both sides.
There's different buttons. You can see that the co-pilot on the right side has a fuel panel. It's right there where I'm shining the light.
They actually adjust where the fuel in the tanks goes to and they have to keep it balanced manually. Newer aircraft are going to automatically do that. I previously flew on the AWACS 707 airframe on the E3 AWACS and they have a flight engineer who manages that, but we have our co-pilot and that they actually do that additional duty as well.
And then you can see the different panels that we have there. There's a center knob which is the crosswind crab which we can adjust our landing gear to be able to land in the wind. So something unique about the B-52 is we can actually land with our landing gear facing a different direction than the airplane to account for heavy winds as well.
Right there on the ladder is the only place you can stand all the way up because you can see right here like even downstairs you can't fully stand up. So constantly not able to stretch your back out. During long durations we try to get up and move around if you will, but based on how busy we are it may not be that comfortable.
Main Street
Where in the world has this plane not flown? Is that a valid question?
Major Nick Ponce, Minot AFB
I would, it has gone all over the world in the air force.
Main Street
Major Nick Ponce, thank you so much for joining us on Main Street.
