CHANGE: The Air Force’s B-52H Bomber Force Has Said Goodbye To Its Nuclear Bombs. “A new Air Force manual confirms that the only nuclear weapons these iconic aircraft are now approved to carry are nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.”

It’s about survivability. A B-52 has about the same radar cross-section as the Empire State Building, so you wouldn’t want to use anything but standoff weapons against near-peer adversaries, or even less-advanced countries equipped with Russian antiaircraft systems.