The Air Force expects to finish qualification testing of the new engines planned for the B-52 Stratofortress by the end of 2024. The service plans to make a Milestone B decision on the Commercial Engine Replacement Program by the end of the summer. These developments are part of the Air Force’s effort to upgrade its fleet of 76 Cold War-era B-52s with new engines, radar, avionics, and other improvements to keep it flying until perhaps 2060. The planes’ 1960s-era TF33 engines are at the end of their working lives, and are to be replaced by Rolls-Royce’s F130 engine.
Col. Scott Foreman and Lt. Col. Tim Cleaver outlined the upcoming changes at a base in Oklahoma. The base is building a massive hangar at Tinker starting in 2026 which could house up to four B-52s and increase the amount of work that can be done on the bomber. The base is also preparing Mackenzie Isle for significant modernization work.
The Air Force is still awaiting cost estimate updates from Boeing before it can finalize its own cost expectations. The engine contract with Rolls-Royce is worth $2.6 billion; when the development, integration, test and production of other major subsystems, the cost estimate is roughly $12.4 billion. Tinker, where all production B-52Hs will be upgraded into B-52Js, is also preparing for its role in the massive modernization effort.
The upgrades will mean a significant increase in the amount of work and capacity required at Tinker. The facility began work on a massive structure known as the bomber agile common hangar in 2026, which could house four B-52s. It typically takes a B-52 between 220 and 260 days to go through depot maintenance, and the Air Force is still trying to figure out how much more time the upgrades might add to that schedule. The Air Force is used to catching and fixing structural problems, and the aircraft should be able last well into the 2050s without more in-depth structural upgrades.
