USAF to integrate into B-52 Stratofortress the AgilePod to give the Iconic BUFF advanced communications capabilities

The B-52 Stratofortress, will soon demonstrate advanced communications capabilities through the new AgilePod, enabling a modernized, further-reaching, more secure communication on the iconic BUFF.

The backbone of the US’s strategic bomber force, the B-52 Stratofortress, will soon demonstrate advanced communications capabilities through the new AgilePod, enabling a modernized, further-reaching, more secure communication on the historic aircraft.

As told by A1C Nia Jacobs, Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs, in the article AgilePod Demo Expands B-52 Communications, B-52 aircrew depend on rapid incoming and outgoing communication—whether that be with other bombers, in dissimilar formations, or with control personnel on the ground—while not forgoing security.

“Our goal is to accelerate and integrate disruptive technologies onto the B-52, B-1, and possibly other patrol-class aircraft,” said Nate Dawn, Chief of the AFGSC Strategic Plans and Programs Modernization, Integration, and Technology Transition Branch.

To address this issue the team began executing an AgilePod demonstration effort, creating a multi-function pod that could integrate advanced communications capabilities for the B-52 across all domains and enhance data transfer, weapon employment, and provide rapid solutions to emerging threats.

“The AgilePod TENTaCLE (Tactical Edge Network Targeting in a Contested Long-Range Environment) program started as an OSD Rapid Prototyping Program, which allows us to quickly provide these needs to our bombers without the years-long timelines required for a permanent modification to the aircraft,” said Dawn.

With this quick and secure technology, the historic B-52 fleet continues to adapt and modernize, able to better meet combatant commander and warfighter needs.

“Our adversaries are working hard to deny us an ability to operate, so it is even more critical for us to deliver these new capabilities as rapidly as we can,” said Col David Donatelli, 608th Air Operations Center commander.

In February Jacobs’ AgilePod-26 prototype units #1 (PR-01) and #2 (PR-01, #2) have been delivered to Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC/WING) under the AgilePod Enhancement Program (AEP) Phase 2 contract. PR-01 has been fully integrated with the TENTaCLE payload for AFGSC.

According to a Jacobs news release, Pod #2 is scheduled to be delivered to another payload vendor later this year.

On Feb. 22, at Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB) test pilots with the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron completed the initial flight test of the AgilePod mounted on a B-52H. The 49 TES will continue with additional multiple ground and flight tests to the pod, ensuring operational capability and integration.

Maj. Brent Drabek, one of the B-52 operational test pilot at the 49 TES, remarked, “This capability is a game changer allowing us to rapidly develop, test, and field new technologies on a warfighter-relevant timeline.”

The Jacobs AgilePod-26 (AP-26) attempts to address the problem of long acquisition and fielding timelines and cost prohibitive procurements. The Jacobs-designed AgilePod will cut years off the DoD airborne sensor payload integration and certification acquisition timeline and will aggressively eliminate cost prohibitive aircraft certifications – it is a true capability delivery model.

Photo credit: Jacobs and Airman 1st Class Nia Jacobs / U.S. Air Force