A major reason why the B-52 is still going strong after seventy-three years is that it is highly versatile.
Of all the conventional weapons in the American military arsenal, nothing says “Don’t Mess With the USA!” quite like the mighty and venerable Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber. The North Vietnamese learned this during Operation Linebacker II in 1972, as did then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guards during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and then-Serbian strongman Slobodan during Operation Allied Force in 1999.
A major reason why the B-52 is still going strong after seventy-three years is the fact that, rather than remaining frozen in time, the bomber has proven to be highly versatile. The behemoth warbird has been adaptable to everything from air-launched cruise missiles to the most state-of-the-art electronic warfare packages. As the one humorous military motto goes, “Semper Gumby (Always Flexible).”
The Stratofortress’s Semper Gumby spirit continues to be embodied in the latest and great up-and-coming variant, the B-52J, at least on paper. In practice, however, the B-52J may be hitting a proverbial brick wall in the guise of a fiscal foible.
Soaring Costs Could Shoot Down the B-52J
The potential bad news for the B-52J comes from my former colleague Brent M. Eastwood of National Security Journal, who wrote a piece republished on MSN on or about May 22, 2025, titled “The Walls are Closing in on the ‘New’ B-52J Air Force Bomber.” To wit:
“The Air Force is frustrated. The service branch has its hands full with the B-52J bomber upgrade program. Now, the news is even more dire. The B-52J radar modernization project has triggered a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach. This condition strikes fear into the hearts of defense acquisition professionals. Under the law, the personnel in charge of the B-52J radar modernization program must notify Congress of its schedule slip and cost overruns … So far, the B-52J radar modernization has been classified as a “significant” breach—a ‘deviation’ of 15 percent or more. The Air Force estimates prices have risen 17 percent more on the radar project, which would qualify as significant. Fortunately, at this level, the Department of Defense does not have to pull the trigger on cancellation. Still, it is a shot fired across the bow, warning procurement professionals to get their act together or risk losing the program.”
The Nunn-McCurdy Amendment is named for now-retired Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) and retired Congressman Dave McCurdy (D-OK) and was introduced as part of the 1982 Defense Authorization Act.
The aspiring new radar in question is the Raytheon AN/APQ-188, which is a hybrid system of sensors used aboard two other Boeing warbirds, namely the F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets. The obsolescent radar currently in place on the B-52 is the AN/APQ-166, which uses mechanical scanning and dates back to the 1960s; by contrast, the Raytheon offering is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
Additional Upgrades and Highlights of the B-52J
Besides the radar, additional upgrades to the B-52J, assuming the project gets off the ground (in the metaphorical sense, that is), will include new workstations and, most significantly, the installation of new Rolls-Royce F130 engines to replace the aging Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines. Officially dubbed the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, this ambitious improvement is projected to take nearly another decade, as the current timeline calls for the upgrade of the fleet of around seventy-six airframes to be completed by 2033.
The Way Forward on the B-52?
Fortunately for advocates of the B-52, all is not yet doom and gloom for the B-52J’s future, and Eastwood ends his article on a cautiously optimistic note. Darlene Costello, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics, took a proactive approach, already informing a House Armed Services subcommittee on May 8 that there was a breach. Upon being queried by Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MI) about her confidence that the radar project won’t hit the “critical area,” Costello replied that she was “pretty confident.”
Meanwhile, as a potential fallback plan, the U.S. Air Force requested information about whether commercial off-the-shelf radars could replace the B-52’s sexagenarian system. As Eastwood notes, “This means they are open to other solutions to outfit the 76 B-52s that will need the upgrade.” Which in turn brings to mind the early twentieth-century airpower theorist Gen. Giulio Douhet‘s famous dictum that “Flexibility is the key to airpower.” (Or, if you prefer, “Semper Gumby” yet again.)
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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