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So when do the B-52s get the "Battleship Yamato" treatment?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato

OK, kidding about the cartoon alien tech, but somehow, I would not be shocked to see somebody strapping high tech engines under the BUFF to give it [sub]orbital capability some day :-)

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Read "Flight of the Old Dog" by Dale Brown. It's a bit dated by modern standards (it was written in the 80s, when the Soviet Union was still a thing), but still good. I won't spoil it for you, but the book features a heavily modified B-52 saving the day.

"Fatal Terrain" is good as well. Released in 1997 so slightly more up to date. I read it hoping for fantastical descriptions of flying battleships hanging from a paper thin plot and was not remotely disappointed.

Dale Brown books are one of my guilty pleasures. Actually, Silver Tower was the first sci-fi book I remember reading when I was a kid. He went to military thrillers after that one and I've read all of them too. But Silver Tower and Old Dog are still two of my favorites.

They are actually talking about replacing the troublesome old engines with ones from modern passenger planes - it hinges on the expected lifetime to recoup the costs through maintenance and efficiency (a bet that would have been wonderful at any time in the past). :)

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