The U.S. Air Force is reviewing options for re-engining the B-52 bomber and intends to formally launch the acquisition effort later this year, a service official said March 14.
William Roper, the Air Force’s new acquisition chief, said he conducted his first review with the re-engining team a few weeks ago and he expects to receive a recommended acquisition plan “within the next few months.”
Photo: U.S. Air Force.
Roper testified before the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces panel that he is pushing to use currently available commercial engines instead of developing new engines.
“We have all options on the table, but my preferred option moving into our acquisition strategy is to leverage commercial,” Roper said. “If it’s available in commercial industry [and has] their research and development in it, then we should begin by trying to leverage what they have done as opposed to rebuild something ourselves.”
The Air Force has allocated $1.56 billion to begin the re-engining and expects to spend a total of $7 billion to $8 billion on the program, Roper said.
The Air Force projects that the B-52’s existing TF-33 engines will become unsustainable in 2030. Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX], built the TF-33s over half a century ago.
In its fiscal year 2019 budget request, released Feb. 12, the Air Force announced plans to re-engine the aging B-52 bomber to keep it in service until 2050 (Defense Daily, Feb. 12). While the new, stealthy B-21 will meet the need for a penetrating bomber, the B-52 will serve as a standoff bomber that uses munitions to do penetration.
Lt. Gen. Mark Nowland, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, testified that the combination of the B-21 and B-52 “gives us the warfighting punch that we think we will need” against threats in the future.
Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and programs, defended the Air Force’s plan to begin retiring its other two bombers, the B-1 and B-2, when it starts fielding the new B-21 in the mid-2020s. Although the B-52 is older than the B-1 and B-2, it fared better in a review of aircraft availability rates and maintenance costs, Harris testified.
The B-52 was the “clear winner for us,” Harris said.