Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Air Force’s B-52J bomber upgrade program, now equipped with Rolls-Royce F130 engines, aims to modernize the decades-old aircraft significantly.
The Cons: Despite clearing major technical hurdles, including integrating advanced radars, avionics, communications, and digital systems, the program remains three years behind schedule, with expected service entry around 2033. Questions linger about cost-effectiveness given future enemy threats.
The Pros: However, the bomber’s unique payload capacity and potential role supporting unmanned systems justify its importance.
The Bottomline: With the rising global demand for strategic bombers and long-range firepower, the updated B-52J could remain central to U.S. military strategy, complementing advanced platforms like the B-21 Raider.
B-52J Bomber Challenge
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For decades, the B-52 has defied all predictions of the need for it to be withdrawn from service.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.
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.
“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 me.
“It will make the ‘long arm’ of the B-52 even longer.”
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.
