US Air Force B-52 crashes shortly after takeoff in California

A US military aircraft has crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in California, north of Los Angeles, according to the US Air Force.

The base said on social media that a B-52 Stratofortress went down at around 11:20am local time on the Edwards airfield.

“A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff on the Edwards airfield at 11:20 a.m.,” the base said in a Facebook post, adding that emergency crews responded immediately and the situation remains ongoing.

The authorities said the airfield has been closed, with all inbound aircraft being diverted.

All non-commercial visitor passes have also been suspended until further notice, allowing the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations.

It is not immediately clear whether there were any injuries in the incident. Videos circulating on social media showed aerial footage of the crash site, with a scorched and smoke-filled landscape visible where the aircraft went down.

According to the Associated Press, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, typically crewed by five people, is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955.

Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts ranging from the Vietnam War to recent operations in the Middle East.

Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles, is also known for its historic role in aviation testing, including where test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947.

The crash comes nearly a year after a separate incident in which a regional airliner flying over North Dakota made a sudden manoeuvre to avoid a possible midair collision with a B-52 bomber that was in its flight path.