New students who graduated to fly the B-52 bomber this fall will be operating the eight-engine aircraft with four crew members instead of the usual five.
The bomber has two pilots, one navigator, a weapon systems officer operating the radar, and an electronic warfare officer. When downsized to four people, the navigator, weapon systems and electronic warfare seats can be filled by any of the two non-pilot air crew.
The switch to a four-person crew now is necessary as the bomber will be structurally modified to fly with only four people in the future. These current batch of graduates will be ready to assume the role of instructors when the modifications are rolled out later this decade.
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