🇺🇸 The B-52 is getting new engines. Again. Rolls-Royce has announced preparations for flight testing of its F130 engines. This is considered a crucial element of the program to extend the legendary B-52 Stratofortress bomber’s service life to 2050 and beyond. Attempts to replace the Pratt & Whitney TF33 go back decades. This engine first powered the aircraft into the air back in 1959, and research programs into re-engining the B-52 began ten years later. They have continued ever since. The Rolls-Royce F130 is based on the commercial BR725 used in Gulfstream G650 business jets. Notably, a previous attempt to replace the B-52’s engines considered the PW2000 (military designation F117), CFM56 (F108), and RB211-535, all considerably more powerful than the TF33. In other words, the bomber would have received four engines instead of eight. The F130 provides thrust comparable to its veteran predecessor, approximately 7.7 tonnes, so the B-52 will retain eight engines. This stems from stability and control concerns: the bomber’s flight control system simply could not cope with the failure of a powerful engine on an outer pylon. The engines mentioned above offered thrust of up to 19.5 tonnes. The current Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP), like its predecessors, is driven by financial considerations. Keeping approximately 740 TF33 engines airworthy, potentially up to a thousand including spares, is extremely expensive. Besides the B-52, the engine is now used only by the relatively small E-3 Sentry fleet and a handful of RB-57F Canberra research aircraft. Currently, 20 F130 engines are being assembled for flight testing, equivalent to two and a half aircraft sets, including spares. Testing is expected to begin in mid-2027. Boeing, the lead integrator, is adapting the engine to the B-52, requiring modifications to the air intakes, cooling systems, and accessory gearboxes. Conversion of the first two B-52H aircraft to the B-52J configuration will begin next year. Alongside new engines and updated fuel and engine control systems, the aircraft will receive new electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic systems, modern cockpit displays, and new avionics. The B-52J will operate alongside the B-21 Raider stealth bomber. This will allow the US Air Force to employ large conventional and nuclear weapons, including the future LRSO cruise missile, and deliver massive firepower without placing the entire burden on stealth aircraft designed to penetrate air defenses. The Pentagon hopes CERP will become the first program to overcome the historical, technical, and budgetary barriers that halted earlier re-engining attempts. The B-52J will be a unique phenomenon in military aviation: a platform from the early jet age adapted for 21st-century warfare and ready to remain a cornerstone of US strategic deterrence for another generation. Will the “old-timer” B-52 outlast the latest B-21? #info #B52
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