Boeing is looking to Re-engine the B-52 that are flying today -76 in total- with the US Air Force. Those are planned to fly until 2050!
In the video posted by Boeing, the economics and environmental questions are explained, as well as the many benefits the Re-engine of the B-52 would bring to the USAF.
Check out the video:
Some more informations:
http://www.boeing.com/defense/b-52-bomber/#/overview
Considering the power of current jet engines, maybe the B-52 become a 4 engine jet…
Saw this as an ad on YouTube today. What engine do you think should be the retrofit engine? Whatever the military equivalent to the JT8D is what they already have, in my opinion be replaced by GeNX engines, 4 GeNX engines provide just as much power as JT8Ds and reliability of jet engines has improved over time.
I would venture to guess it will be the CF6. but this conversion of the engines would be a long time running as you are redoing a critical aspect of an aircraft. That’s not that easy to do. If it was you’d see airlines just do a simple engine upgrade on older air frames. It would be a neo of sorts but instead of making a redesign of a former aircraft and starting to rebuild the air frame they have to make the engines fit with the current air frame with minor modifications.
That is insane. Such a great aircraft, hope they find a way to make it last longer than 2050!
Would leave that aircraft type flying for almost 100 years in an official capacity incredible
Yes, they are way more reliable and produce way more thrust than before. I really don’t know what Boeing is planning, but I think CF6 or GEnx are some very good options.
It’s interesting to see how technology has developed since the 50s-60s. One Ge90 can produce almost the same amount thrust as 8 B-52 engines.
The longevity is crazy. It’s like USAF still flying Super Saberes, or using Spirfires in Shock and Awe. Awesome. Buf is an interesting plane to watch fly. Glad they are keeping this beast active.
Pop 8 GE90s on that sucker and it’ll fly till 2100 ;)
Seriously though, its great to see the Air Force and Boeing revitalize aging aircraft.
Plane refurbishment and replacement has been needed in all branches for a while now and with new administration in the WH I believe we might be seeing more than just engine upgrades in planes.
Sounds like a great plan for this bird! Looking forward to seeing how much longer these will be up in the skies.
Very true, but reliability. they wouldn’t put 2 engines on a bomber because if you loose one you probably can’t maintain stable flight. 4 CF6s or 4 GeNXs would be a lot better.
Keep in mind that this will be a new engine, not just a CF6 or GEnx strapped to the B-52.
You have to keep in mind that the B-52 was designed to operate with a certain engine, so you can’t just tape any old engine on and call it good, especially when using old bodies.
It will likely be a engine of similar size, weight, and shape of the current engine, just revitalized with newer, better, more efficient technology.
The Ge90 was just an example to show how technology has developed… I totally agree with you, this is why I said CF6 and GEnx would be a good option.
You have a point, but very low by-pass engines aren’t efficient, so they would need bigger engines, maybe not a GEnx, CF6 or Leap. I really don’t have a clue, but I thought that developing a new engine wouldn’t be cost effective. If P&W, GE, RR develop that engine, they would need to use it elsewhere, or a limited 4-6-8* engines for ~76 (+spare engines) jets wouldn’t give the necessary financial return
*It may be a 4,6 or 8 engine plane, who knows…
The only acceptable replacement will be the Olympus 593’s. Super efficient and quiet.
I swear this guy is such a savage.
Just imagine a B52 with 4 Ge90 115b’s
Why does fuel efficiency even matter for the US military when they’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars on it? Tbh i would put F16 Engines on that puppy if i had 600B$ as my budget.
2 Lycoming o-320s should easily be enough for that thing.
No matter what your budget is, nobody wants to piss away billions of dollars if they can prevent it. In this case, in the long run, it will save a few billion so it makes sense for them to do the upgrade.