New Engines for B-52s will keep them flying until the 2050s

The U.S. Air Force’s rollout of its new B-21 Raider stealth bomber was one piece of the puzzle in creating a future two-bomber fleet, B-21s + B-52s.

Rolls-Royce and Boeing are working on a major upgrade to the service’s fleet of 76 Cold War-era B-52s that will give them a new slate of F130 engines and keep them flying into the 2050s, alongside at least 100 B-21s.

At some point in the 2030s, when the combined Raider-Stratofortress bomber fleet is ready, the Air Force will finish retiring the remaining B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirits.

The B-52 will obtain its new engines under the $2.6 billion Commercial Engine Replacement Program.

The Commercial Engine Replacement Program recently finished its preliminary design review.

The B-52 fleet will fly until they’re nearly a century old .Their current TF33 engines dates from the early 1960s, and is expected to reach the end of their life spans by the close of the 2020s.

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