All eight people aboard a US Air Force B-52 bomber were killed when the aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in the US state of California on Monday, the Air Force confirmed.
"Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a horrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans," Colonel James Hayes told a press conference. He said authorities were in the process of notifying the victims' families and that additional details about those killed would be released afterwards.
The US planemaker Boeing said two of the victims were company employees.
Hayes said the flight, which took off late on Monday morning, was intended to test a new radar system. The aircraft crashed moments after take-off and burst into flames, he said.
"At this point, we don't have any indication as to what the cause was of this. We won't be able to release that information, and we don't have an ability to get that anytime soon," he said.
Earlier, the Air Force released a statement, saying initial indications are that the crash was not survivable, adding that emergency response personnel were at the scene.
California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed his condolences to the victims, their families and Air Force personnel on social media platform X. Newsom said he was grateful to the first responders and emergency crews working at the scene.
Edwards Air Force Base said on Facebook that emergency services had temporarily closed the military airfield, diverting incoming aircraft to other airports.
B-52 aircraft are long-range bombers used by the US Air Force and are capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. Edwards Air Force Base is located around 100 kilometres north of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert.
In the past, the US military has used the base to test, among other things, stealth drones and jets capable of travelling at six times the speed of sound.
