After a long wait, the B-52 will get new engines. (File)
WASHINGTON: Rolls-Royce has won the right to replace the aging engines on the B-52 bomber, a long sought-after contract for the firm.
The Air Force announced the $2.6 billion contract Friday night. Rolls beat out General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, the latter of whom produced the TF33 engines currently used on the B-52. Work is expected to run until 2038 at Rolls’ Indianapolis, Indiana location.
The contract will cover production of over 600 engines, plus spares and associated gear and sustainment requirements. In a statement, the service said it plans to deliver the first lot of updated bombers “by the end of 2028;” that doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room should there be major delays, as that same statement notes that the TF33’s will not be “supportable” after 2030.
However, the company appears confident it can deliver, in part because variants of its winning F130 engine have been used in the Air Force’s C-37 and E-11 BACN aircraft previously.
“We are proud to join a truly iconic U.S. Air Force program and provide world-class, American-made engines that will power its missions for the next 30 years,” said Tom Bell, Chairman & CEO of Rolls-Royce North America and president of the company’s defense arm, in a statement. “The F130 is a proven, efficient, modern engine that is the perfect fit for the B-52.”
“The B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program is the most important and comprehensive upgrade to the B-52 in over half a century,” Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, director of strategic plans, programs and requirements at Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a statement. “The B-52 is the workhorse of the nation’s bomber force and this modification will allow the B-52 to continue its critical conventional and standoff mission into 2050’s.”
Air Force leaders played the coming contract award close to the chest when they gathered at the annual Air Force Association conference last week. The service’s top two acquisition officials on Sept. 22 told reporters that a contract award was “imminent,” but indicated that it would likely come at the end of the month, rather than two days later.
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