B-52 - Nå blir den 4-motors - Omsider - AVweb

Farnborough 2010 - Foto: Per Gram USAF To Fly the B-52 into the 2050s with New Engines, Radars

The U.S. Air Force has finally decided to fund a re-engining of the B-52H bomber, and has described a plan to keep the fleet of 76 jets in service until at least 2050. The fleet will also receive new radars. The service now plans to retire the much younger but costly-to-operate B-1 and B-2 stealth bombers as new, stealthy B-21s are delivered by Northrop Grumman starting in the late 2020s. In mid-2016, the average flying time logged by each B-52 was 17,867 hours, but the USAF has not reported any major structural issues that could derail its latest plan. A total of $727.5 million in development spending has been allocated for re-engining over Fiscal Years 2019-2023, plus nearly $550 million for production starting in FY2022. The Air Force plans to select the new engine in the third quarter of FY2019 (the end of June next year). The new radar choice will follow a year later, with a development spend of nearly $900 million envisioned. In total, the service has allocated nearly $2.1 billion in RDT&E and over $1.3 billion in production funding for B-52 modernization and capability improvements over the next five years. Read More