BOEING IS TO submit a revised proposal to the US Air Force by the end of this month to re-engine B-52H bombers with leased Rolls-Royce RB.211-535E4 turbofans and struts.
An unsolicited proposal was submitted in July, but Boeing Defense &Space president Jerry King confirms: "We are in the process of updating the proposal. There are specific actions to be taken to allow the Defense Department to lease the engines and struts."
The USAF is looking at several options varying from re-engineing the full 94-strong B-52H fleet to a less-ambitious effort covering 72 of the "younger" bombers. If the complete fleet were updated, the programme would be worth "more than $1 billion" to the Boeing and R-R/Allison team.
Although re-engineing the Pratt & Whitney-powered B-52 has been proposed several times before, Boeing believes that the new initiative has a real chance of success. This is mainly because of the innovative leasing arrangement devised by Boeing and R-R, as well as the USAF's realisation that it needs to keep a core force of B-52s operational until 2020. Boeing says that the reduced maintenance and support costs of re-engineing on lease will be cheaper over the long term than leaving the aircraft as they are.
Boeing expects a USAF decision "by the end of the year", and says that the first modifications could begin in early 1997. The upgrade includes an auxiliary power unit and a full-authority digital engine-control system.
Source: Flight International
