The B-52 bomber could soon have new engines. (File)
AFA: The US Air Force expects to select one of three competitors to put new engines on its aged B-52 bomber fleet “probably within the month,” according to the service’s top civilian acquisition official.
Darlene Costello, the service’s acting head of acquisitions, told reporters at the annual Air Force Association conference that the program executive office “and source selection team is completing their work,” and that while the expectation is an award announcement by Sept. 30, it’s possible it could come “faster.”
At the same time, Costello stressed that the teams “have to do their due diligence and I will not get in their way… however much time it takes to get that done.”
The three competitors — General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, which produced the TF33 engines currently used — will produce an estimated 592 engines for the Stratofortress, whose first flight was almost 70 years ago.
Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, the Air Force’s top uniformed acquisition executive, also described the source selection as “imminent.” He noted that the use of mid-tier acquisition authority, a fairly new contracting vehicle, helped speed the process along, perhaps shaving as much as three years off the competition.
For years the program has been much discussed with little real movement, but Richardson said that the use of digital engineering and modeling — a big push for the service right now — has helped it near the finish line.
“One of the things that you should see from us going forward is we want to make sure that we do speed with discipline,” Richardson said. “Part that discipline base means making sure that we do all the systems engineering work that’s required.”
