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B-52 gets first full IT upgrade

Accepted submission by AnonTechie at 2014-05-26 20:25:41
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B-52 gets first full IT upgrade since 1960s, now LAN party ready. Digital facelift and networks give Stratofortress new lease on dealing death.

The US Air Force's 10th Flight Test Squadron recently took delivery of the first B-52H Stratofortress to complete a refit through the Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) program. It's an effort to bring the Cold War era heavy bomber into the 21st century way of warfare-or at least up to the 1990s, technology-wise. While the aircraft received piecemeal upgrades over the past 50 years of flying, CONECT is the first major information technology overhaul for the Air Force's B-52H fleet since the airplanes started entering service in 1961. A total of 30 B-52s are due for the CONECT upgrade, at least based on the funding allotted for this fiscal year. The most visible part of the upgrade is the crew's workstations. New "multi-functional color displays" (MFCDs) replace the analog instruments and monochrome displays previously used by aircrew.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014 /05/b-52-gets-first-full-it-upgrade-since-60s-now- lan-party-ready/ [arstechnica.com]

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/b52h-receiving -216m-communications-upgrade-0278/ [defenseindustrydaily.com]

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