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description-1 = Lightning strikes behind a B-52H Stratofortress at Minot Air Force Base. The oldest bomber in the US arsenal, the B-52 was originally designed to perform nuclear deterrence missions during the Cold War and has received a range of upgrades and modernisations over the life of the aircraft design. (Credit - USAF photo by Senior Airman J.T. Armstrong)
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image-2 = images/Bombers/2.jpg
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description-2 = A USAF B-52H Stratofortress takes off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The 'H' variant incorporates a range of upgrades enabling the airframe to deploy a range of precision guided and unguided munitions totalling up to approximately 31,500 kliograms of mixed ordnance including bombs, mines and missiles. (Credit - US Department of Defense).
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image-3 = images/Bombers/3.jpg
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description-3 = A USAF B-52H Stratofortress aircraft flies low over Townshend Island, Queensland, after a mission during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2013.The B-52H has a combat radius of 7,210 kilometres and incorporates a range of modern avionics and targeting systems including both the LITENING Advanced Targeting System and the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod to support strategic and tactical bombing operations for close air support missions. (Credit - Defence Image Gallery)
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image-4 = images/Bombers/4.jpg
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description-4 = Four USAF B-1B Lancers arrive at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. A supersonic, variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber designed to penetrate the increasingly heavy and advanced Soviet air defence systems through the use of high-speed, low altitude manoeuvres in a similar manner to that of the F-111. (Credit - US Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Richard P. Ebensberger)
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description-5 = A B-1B Lancer takes off on the first day of Red Flag 16-2 at Nellis Air Force Base. With a top speed of Mach 1.25 (at 40,000 feet) and Mach 0.92 (at 60-150 metres), the B-1B has a combat radius of 5,543 kilometres and payload of 56,700 kliograms for both precision guided and unguided weapons systems, making it the heaviest and most adaptable bomber in the US arsenal. Additionally, the B-1B incorporates a suite of advanced avionics, countermeasures and targeting systems. (Credit - US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Keven Tanenbaum)
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image-6 = images/Bombers/6.jpg
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description-6 = An Air Force B-1B Lancer receives fuel over the southern Pacific Ocean, 2 October 2017, during a training mission with the Royal Australian Air Force as part of Exercise Black Dagger. (Credit - US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gerald R. Willis)
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image-7 = images/Bombers/7.jpg
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description-7 = A US Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber takes off from RAAF Base Tindal, Australia, 22 March 2016, following an engine running crew change. The first true strategic stealth bomber, the B-2 was designed to complement the B-1B by providing an all-altitude attack capability with an unrefuelled range of approximately 11,100 kilometres, which is extended to over 19,000 kilometres when refuelled. (Credit - Defence Image Gallery)
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image-8 = images/Bombers/8.jpg
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description-8 = A USAF B-2 Bomber being refuelled by a USAF KC-10 Tanker while taking part in the US Strategic Bomber Training Program conducted in the Northern Territory. The B-2, like its smaller stealth cousins the F-22 and F-35, carries all its ordnance internally in two bays with an official payload of about 18,000 kilograms with a maximum estimated limit of about 23,000 kilograms of both conventional and nuclear precision guided and unguided munitions. This includes a range of bombs and stand-off munitions, including the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). (Credit - Defence)
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image-9 = images/Bombers/9.jpg
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description-9 = Personnel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, prep an Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber for a training mission, earlier this year. (Credit - US Air Force Senior Airman Thomas Barley)
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image-10 = images/Bombers/10.jpg
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description-10 = A US Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber, centre, participates in a training mission near Joint Base Pearl Harbor. (Credit - US Department of Defense)
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image-11 = images/Bombers/11.jpg
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description-11 = The Xian H-6K serves as the core of China's strategic bomber force. The H-6K has received a range of modernisation and capability improvements, focused on enhancing the lethality of China's A2AD network in the South China Sea. This has seen the platform modified to accept a range of air-launched anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles including the YJ-10 and YJ-12 series, which are designed to saturate and overwhelm an enemy's air defence radar systems. (File image)
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image-12 = images/Bombers/12.jpg
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description-12 = The upgraded H-6K is estimated to have a range of about 6,000 kilometres with a combat radius of about 1,800 kilometres, providing a long-range strike and deterrence capability protruding beyond the first island chain in the South China Sea. (Credit -eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Wang Guosong)
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image-13 = images/Bombers/13.jpg
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description-13 = Russia's answer to the failed US XB-70 Mach 3 Valkyrie bomber, the Tu-160 was the last strategic bomber designed and built by the Soviet Union and has been the focus of much of Putin's modernisation efforts. (Credit - Wikimedia commons)
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image-14 = images/Bombers/14.jpg
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description-14 = The Tu-160 has a maximum speed of Mach 2.05 with a combat radius of about 7,300 kilometres, sporting a range of internally mounted ordnance with a payload capacity of 45,000 kilograms of both conventional and nuclear precision and unguided bombs, cruise missiles and mines. (Credit - Wikimedia commons)
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image-15 = images/Bombers/15.jpg
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description-15 = Russia's answer to the B-1B, the Tu-22M is designed to provide the Russian Air Force with a strategic bomber and Russian Naval Aviation forces with a credible, long-range maritime strike and anti-shipping role designed to specifically target US carrier strike groups and troop convoys in the Atlantic. The Tu-22M is also designed to operate in conjunction with Russian submarine hunter-killer groups, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.88, a range of about 6,800 kilometres and a payload capacity of roughly 24,000 kilograms of both conventional and nuclear precision and unguided bombs, cruise missiles and mines. (Credit - Wikimedia commons)
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