The Pentagon’s plan to modernise the U.S. Air Force’s B-52 fleet faces fresh scrutiny after a Government Accountability Office report warned that most of the programme’s 13 upgrade efforts are running into cost, schedule or performance problems. The overhaul covers about $21 billion of work on the ageing B-52H fleet, including the Commercial Engine Replacement Program, which will fit Rolls-Royce F130 engines in place of the bomber’s Pratt & Whitney TF33 powerplants.
The engine replacement effort has absorbed roughly $3 billion in extra costs since 2023, alongside further delays, and GAO questioned whether the Air Force could move into production before enough developmental flight testing is complete. Radar modernisation is also behind schedule and over budget. The report points to wider sustainment pressure as the service keeps a 70-year-old aircraft in service into the 2050s, with depot congestion and parts shortages adding strain. Boeing and the Air Force are preparing work on the first two aircraft in San Antonio, where the upgraded bomber will eventually be designated the B-52J.