Originally Posted by
seafury45
KenV,
Could you briefly explain how the engine swap affects weapons release envelopes please?
Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
The top secret toss bombing manoeuvre?????
Originally Posted by
George K Lee
If I had to take a guess, the weapon-release issue would involve the airflow between the new and larger nacelle and the body side and its effects on the pylon and stores.
Everyone please remember that the B-52 does not carry weapons
only internally. It has very large EXTERNAL weapons pylons that carry a VERY wide variety of weapons. Significantly altering the airflow under the wings would necessitate recertifying not just all those weapons, but also the very large variety of weapon combinations over multiple flight conditions. That is a HUGE deal potentially much more difficult and time consuming to test for than the engine swap. This was one of the drivers that drove the eight small engine solution vs the four large engine solution.