EARLIER THIS MONTH, a contingent of US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers landed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. They're there to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the push to eliminate the Islamic State throughout Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. The B-52s will drop GPS-guided smart-bombs and conventional 500-pound bombs on targets, and play other types of communication and monitoring roles.

The 160-foot-long bombers—built by Boeing and nicknamed BUFFs, for "Big Ugly Fat Fuckers"—have storied histories, including setting an around-the-world nonstop flight record, patrolling the Soviet Union's border with nuclear warheads 24-hours-a-day for eight years straight, and making a memorable appearance in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. For 60 years, the bomber's been a constant presence in America's arsenal, seeing action in Vietnam, the Serbian conflict, the Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of the 744 B-52s Boeing built between 1952 and 1962, 76 remain in active service. They share bombing duties with the supersonic B-1 and the stealthy B-2, both far younger models, but aren't going anywhere. The US Air Force Global Strike Command, which maintains the bombers at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and Minot AFB in North Dakota (with a few at Edwards Air Force Base in California) expects them to keep flying through the 2040s. That's not a hard ceiling, though, and continued combat success and budgetary factors could keep the B-52 in action until it turns 100 years old.

That would be the generational—if not exactly technological—equivalent ofsending a 1916 Sopwith Camel into combat today. It's not the only American aircraft getting a bit crusty. The C-130 cargo ship, born in 1956, 1977's A-10 Warthog, and the F-16 fighter, introduced in 1978 are still in service. But there's been talk of retiring each of the stalwart aircraft, and none is likely to outlive the B-52.

The bomber's staying power can be attributed to many things, not least of which, according to officers in charge of maintaining the airplanes in the Command's Directorate of Logistics, is its uniquely forward-thinking original design. "The build of the B-52 was one of both over- and, conversely, under-engineering," said a directorate representative, who chose not to be identified, per directorate guidelines. "Its flexibility has led to its continued relevance and ability to adapt to current and emerging global threats."