Key Points and Summary: The B-52J modernization program marks the most ambitious overhaul in the storied bomber’s history.
-The upgrade includes new engines, radars, and advanced avionics, extending the aircraft’s service life into the 2050s.
-However, the program is running three years behind schedule, with initial operational capability now expected by 2033.
-Despite rising costs and delays, advocates emphasize the B-52J’s unparalleled payload capacity, vital for deploying future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and supporting expanded bomber force goals.
–As global tensions rise, the Air Force’s push for over 200 bombers highlights the B-52J’s critical role in the evolving airpower landscape.
B-52J Delays: Is the Future Worth the Investment?
In December 2024, with the certification of the design for the new engine for the modernized Boeing B-52J, the Rolls-Royce F130, the program continues to move forward.
Getting this far with the engine has required about two years of effort, and there is still plenty left to do, say those close to the program. However, this is a major hurdle that has been cleared.
The only drawback is that the program is still running three years behind, which puts the aircraft’s actual acceptance into US Air Force (USAF) service somewhere in the 2033 time frame.
This causes some to question if the money is worth it given what the aircraft might be faced with from enemy air defenses and other threats by that time.
The B-52 Bomber Story Is Decades Old
For decades, the B-52 has defied all predictions of the need for it to be withdrawn from service.
During Ronald Reagan’s first run for president in 1980, four and a half decades ago, then-Sen. Barry Goldwater said the B-52 “was so old that I think some of them fought with Custer”, in reference to the famous US Cavalry General who died fighting the Sioux Indian tribe at the Little Bighorn.
Nonetheless, the aircraft has survived several rounds of defense reform and post-Cold War revisions of US National Security doctrine.
The need for a long-range aircraft that can carry large payloads of air-launched weaponry has remained even in the decades since both the B-1 and B-2 entered service.
Its continued use runs parallel with the Russian Aerospace Forces continuing to operate its fleet of Tupolev Tu-95s up to this day.
B-52J Bomber: An Ambitious Upgrade
The B-52J program is perhaps the most ambitious upgrade in the history of the aircraft’s service.
It involves a full spectrum replacement of the aircraft’s systems – so much so that it will bear very little resemblance to the aircraft as it is today.
The systems to be replaced include new radars, new engine pylons, replacement of the internal wiring, a digital backbone of on-board avionics and electronics, advanced communications, and navigation upgrades to include satellite-aided datalinks.
This long list of improvements will also require some significant integration work to be performed, which is the cause for some of the delays.
These and other complications have put the B-52J years behind schedule, with the Government Accountability Office now projecting that initial operational capability (IOC), originally scheduled for 2030, is now not expected before 2033.

A B-52H Stratofortress is prepared for fight at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Oct. 25, 2021. The last B-52H built was delivered in Oct. 1962. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Zachary Wright)
There is intended to be a critical design review in August 2025 to take measure of the program’s progress.
Speculation is that there could be advocates for the program to be scaled back due to the cost and the need for more stealthy programs like the B-21, or the use of tactical assets that can carry large weapons loads like the F-15EX.
If the B-52J moves forward as scheduled it will be in service until the 2050 time frame.
The New Bomber Force
But looking in the future there are advocates that call for an enlarged bomber force of more than 200 aircraft.
This would require more than 100 B-21s currently planned to be built and the B-52J to be part of the mix.
In December 2024 the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) commander, Gen. Thomas Bussiere told the press “we have 141 bombers in the inventory, between the B-1, the B-2 and the B-52.
“The demand signal for the bombers is greater than any time I’ve seen in my career, across the fabric of every geographic combatant command.”
“The last 12 months have probably seen the highest level of activity across the globe, both in the European theater and the Indo-Pacific theater,” he continued.

Boeing B-52 static display with weapons, Barksdale AFB 2006. Image: Creative Commons.
“We’ve done more in the last 12 months than I think we’ve done in the last 20 years, with a fleet that’s fairly old and a force that’s fairly stressed based on the demand signal.”
In addition, there is considerable discussion about the B-52J, one of the oldest aircraft in inventory, being what will make one of the newest aircraft currently being developed, the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), possible.
“It is the ability of the B-52 to carry such large payload that can put these unmanned systems into the middle of the fight that makes a difference and will provide more justification for the cost of the upgrade,” said a US air power specialist who spoke to 19FortyFive.
“It will make the ‘long arm’ of the B-52 even longer.”

A U.S. Air Force maintainer conducts a visual inspection of a B-52H Stratofortress at Morón Air Base, Spain in support of Bomber Task Force 21-3, May 24, 2021. Strategic bomber missions enhance the readiness and training necessary to respond to any potential crisis or challenge across the globe. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Allred)
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw and has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defence technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

william b monger jr
January 21, 2025 at 3:41 pm
The civilian market would’ve had this safely completed already.
Stephen Kucharski
January 21, 2025 at 7:22 pm
Unparalleled payload? The B1 holds more.
Zola
January 21, 2025 at 10:22 pm
But not the same variety of munitions perhaps.
Kelvin
January 22, 2025 at 11:25 am
If it wasn’t too old 25yrs ago it won’t be 25yrs from now.I still believe the Air Force overreacted to the U-2 shoot down.
Spuwho
January 22, 2025 at 12:26 pm
At least this contributor actually researched before he submitted.
Steven A Helming
January 22, 2025 at 5:51 pm
I lived and grew up near “Hootersville” (Ruthville). It was the ‘code name’ for the bar that was the meeting place for MAFB crews to unwind. Ernie S guaranteed their safety for the ‘festivities’.
Charlie B. Good
January 24, 2025 at 6:19 pm
As a SAC Veteran, one day in 1975 I was talking to a BUFF A.C. Who told me that the 1972 Hanoi Christmas bombings proved that the B-52 was unsurvivable in even a moderately defended target area. To spend several hundred billion dollars at a minimum on 70 year old airframes to get at most twenty more years service from at most 77 aircraft is a total waste of money. Why not design a new 767 Standoff Missile Truck. Boeing did pretty much the same thing using the 737-800 as a platform for the P8-A Posidon Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft.
Rickey Manuel
January 24, 2025 at 9:58 pm
I love near barksdale air force base I’ve seen the b52 thousands of times I dont know how there still up there but I’m not an expert on military affairs but they’ve served us well up to now but they’ll never survive in the missile age when one missile can take out about anything