The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered, strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) since 1955 and still in active service to-day. Built to carry nuclear weapons for Cold War-era deterrence missions, to-day it is fitted to launch cruise missles. As of April 2008, 94 of the original 744 B-52 aircraft were still operational within the U.S. Air Force. Even while the Air Force works on new bombers scheduled for 2018 and 2037 it intends to keep the B-52H in service until at least 2040, nearly 80 years after production ended!