A photo of a B-52 Stratofortress flying with an apparent pair of Long-Range Stand-Off missiles suggests the Air Force’s effort to test its future air-launched nuclear missile is proceeding well, an aviation expert said. Jarod Hamilton, the Los Angeles-based director...
B-52J
The Air Force is deferring parts of the B-52's radar upgrade and plans to start outfitting two Stratofortresses with new engines for testing in fiscal 2027, according to a new Pentagon report, as the service strives to keep the bomber’s modernization on track.
The Air Force might want to buy more than the planned fleet of 100 B-21 bombers, particularly if the coming B-52J upgrade proves more challenging than anticipated, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The B-52 Radar Modernization Program has incurred a Nunn-McCurdy breach, with a cost estimate increase of more than 15 percent, the Air Force said. A breach of that magnitude won’t require the Secretary of Defense to certify the program as critical to national defense, but ...
The Air Force should buy 145 stealth B-21 bombers to cope with the increased threats to U.S. security since that program came into being, Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, head of U.S. Strategic Command, said. He also said the Air Force and the Navy should reconsider ...
The Rolls-Royce F130 engine, as it will serve on the B-52J, has passed Critical Design Review, the company announced. The CDR happened on time, but the overall program continues to lag original timetables.
Initial operational capability for the B-52J—the new designation for the bomber after extensive re-engining and upgrade programs—won’t be achieved until 2033. The three-year delay is due to issues both with its new engines and new radar, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.
Starting in the late 2020s, the Air Force’s fleet of B-52 bombers will transform with new engines, a new radar, updated communications and navigation equipment and more. What was the B-52H will become the re-designated, upgraded B-52J. At one of only two operational B-52 bases ...
WORLD: Modernization: B-52's get new engines and other upgrades; AWACs to the Boneyard.
CCA's take shape; Modernizing the Battle Network; Scheduling the new nukes; CMSSF Towberman bids farewell.
The Air Force’s primary platform for air attack against the most heavily defended targets will be the sixth-generation B-21 Raider, featuring a degree of stealth “orders of magnitude” stealthier than the B-2A Spirit it will replace.
Within a brand-new, gleaming-white facility called the “high bay” at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, a battered and rusty-looking fuselage and left wing of a B-52H has become a laboratory for the government-industry team that will revamp the aged Stratofortress fleet for the next ...