Eli5 why does the US still use a bomber from the 1950s when they have built two newer ones since then?
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Even though there are more newer strategic bombers then the B-52 none of them have the same range, fuel efficiency and bomb capacity. In addition the B-52 is much cheaper, both to buy and operate. So the US still have a lot of B-52s and fly them very often. Especially for modern combats where the bombers have to circle over the target location gathering intelligence on the target and waiting for the right time to strike there are no other good alternatives.
The newer bombers were built to fill areas of combat where the B-52 were lacking. So they were designed to do different things. Instead of designing new bombers the US have been upgrading the B-52. If there were to be a new design to replace the B-52 it would probably be very similar to the existing design so why do this? It should be noted that the B-52 today have received a lot of upgrades since its launch. All of the old 50s technology have been replaced. It is no longer the dumb strategic bomber it was designed as but rather a modern combat platform with all the technology you would expect from an aircraft straight off the production line today.
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