For its latest upgrade, Boeing has installed a new weapons bay launcher that will allow the venerable bomber to carry smart weapons inside and reduce fuel consumption.

When the B-52 entered service in the 1950s, launching its main weapons was very simple; it opened the bomb bay doors and the bombs slid out of their racks. Sixty years later, the B-52's conventional arsenal of "dumb" iron bombs has given way to a suite of laser-guided munitions, cruise missiles, and an assortment of stand-off and smart weapons. As a result, the bomb bay has become something like a cross between a revolver and a vending machine, with a rotating cradle that allows the pilot to select particular weapons and move them into launch position automatically.

The problem is that the older weapons launchers weren't one-size-fits-all, so GPS-guided smart weapons, for example, had to be carried on hard points on the wing, which greatly increased drag while reducing mission flexibility. Boeing is seeking to correct this with a new prototype launcher, which is has installed in a B-52 for testing.