On April 23, the US Air Force released a draft request for proposal relating to the acquisition of no less than 608 commercial aircraft engines. This last step before the publication of the call for tenders will allow manufacturers to better prepare their proposals. Although the project has a year late, the US Air Force hopes to make rapid progress on the program to re-engine its B-52H Stratofortress, considered strategic for maintaining its operational capabilities.
Mentioned since the end of the Cold War, the change of engines of the B-52 was constantly rejected by the US Air Force, the heavy bomber proving sufficiently efficient to meet the needs of the moment. In recent years, however, it has become evident that the Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-103 reactors in service since the 1960s will no longer be serviceable beyond 2030, largely because the vast stocks of spare parts inherited from the Cold War will then be exhausted. With their new engines, the last 76 B-52Hs should therefore remain in service beyond 2050, more than a century after the first Stratofortresses entered operational service!
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