Though A Disaster Right Now, The US Military's B-52J Will Be An Impressive Bomber

The B-52 Stratofortress is one of the United States Air Force's most well-known aircraft. The long-range subsonic eight-engine jet is the oldest aircraft still being used today, and there's a reason for that. The U.S. continues to fly the B-52 because it's an incredible strategic asset with more than 65 years of operational history. The B-52 has infiltrated popular culture and remains in service long after its introduction in 1955.

Of course, the aircraft in operation today is not the same as the one that flew the unfriendly skies back in the 1950s. The B-52, like most American military aircraft, has undergone numerous upgrades to ensure it remains a viable strategic bomber well into the 21st century. The latest fielded model is the B-52H, which first entered service in 1961. It's long been in need of an upgrade, and the B-52J is the designation for the new aircraft, which won't enter service for quite some time.

Unfortunately, the upgrades needed to bring the aging aircraft up to the Air Force's modern standards are causing significant delays. The plan is to incorporate new engines and a wide variety of different types of ordnance, but getting that into the bomber and making it airworthy has proven challenging. This is problematic, as more B-52Hs are going offline due to their age, so the new variant is desperately needed. While it's doubtless the B-52J will be an impressive bomber; it's going to take nearly a decade, if not longer, before it can take to the skies.

The B-52J will incorporate numerous new upgrades into the airframe. Unlike previous updates, the B-52 will cut its total number of engines from eight to four, using the newly developed Rolls-Royce F130 engines in place of what powered the older models. This is significant, as reducing engines requires extensive modifications to the airframe. The B-52J will not be a newly constructed aircraft — it's cheaper to upgrade existing B-52Hs than to begin from scratch, so the new engines pose some issues.

Despite this, the new engines will provide more than enough power to push the aircraft to its intended cruising speed and altitude. Additional improvements in armament suggest the power the B-52J will bring to the table. Among other weapon systems, the new aircraft could be equipped with the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), which is in development by Raytheon for the U.S. Military. Additionally, the B-52J will receive nuclear hardening and cyber security enhancements.

The Air Force is also sinking nearly $900 million into the Radar Modernization Program, which aims to upgrade the aircraft's existing radar with a variant of Raytheon's active, electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar, the AN/APG-76. Additional replacements to the aircraft's subsystems of struts and nacelles, as well as the electrical power generation system and cockpit display, will enhance the operability of the B-52J for years to come. These improvements will be made to the 76 existing, still operational B-52Hs in the inventory at a cost of $3 billion.

The upgrade plan is already three years behind schedule, pushing the B-52J's introduction all the way to 2033. While the new Rolls-Royce F130 engines have passed the necessary review, other systems haven't. As of January 2025, the new radars, digital systems, and updated wiring have yet to pass the review stage. This has led the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to flag the modernization plan for an investigation, and it could trim some of the stalled upgrades, which would undermine the intended outcome of a new B-52J.

While the Air Force is prepared to receive the new bomber on the old timetable, it may not have that same requirement when the aircraft is ready. This is a concern, as the cost and time needed to upgrade the fleet could be entirely unnecessary if the Air Force's strategic bomber strategy changes before it's ready. Rolls-Royce's review already ate up two years, just bringing the new engines up to speed to pass the review, which didn't help matters.

The reason the Air Force's strategy could change has to do with its acquisition order for 100 B-21 Raiders, the new stealth bomber being developed by Northrop Grumman expected to enter the inventory in the mid-2020s. The new bomber is the first 21st-century stealth, long-range bomber, which could ultimately negate the need for the B-52. Should that happen, the legendary bomber that entered service in the '50s could be mothballed in favor of the B-21, which would render its upgrade entirely meaningless.