B-52 Re-engining?

@Spud

TEG

f118s have less thrust

edit: double checked numbers, used wrong specs for TF33 in above post. But the re-engineing should drop the engines to 4 or 2 for maintenance

TF-33: 17,000lbs
F118: 19,000lbs and almost certainly better than the TF-33 at higher altitudes.

like I said, I double checked and was using the wrong numbers

Sept. 24, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force has selected Rolls-Royce North America as its contractor for the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, or CERP, which will supply new F130 powerplants for all 76 of Air Force Global Strike Command’s B-52H bombers, the Pentagon announced Sep. 24. If all options are exercised, the work is worth $2.6 billion.

The F130 engine is flying on the C-37 transport and E-11 BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node) aircraft. The first part of the indefinite quantity-indefinite delivery contract is worth $500.9 million. The contract calls for Rolls to supply 608 engines, to equip 76 B-52s with eight engines each, with manufacture and installation to be completed by Sept. 23, 2038. Rolls said the actual number of powerplants, including spares, is 650.

The Air Force did not say when the installs will begin. The engines will be built at Rolls’s Indianapolis, Ind., facilities, where the company said it has invested $600 million in an “advanced manufacturing campus.” The work will require 150 new hires, the company said. The contract value is substantially below initial estimates, which ran as much as $10 billion for the CERP.

https://www.airforcemag.com/rolls-royce ... 6-billion/

https://www.airforcemag.com/collins-aer ... eneration/

This update is a few decades late

This update is a few decades late

I was hoping for low drag, four-engine mods. Those tall tails always seemed like the weakest link rather than the engines.

So the big issue with reducing the number of engines is that it drastically increases the cost of the refit. You need new nacelles, you need to change all the plumbing and wiring in the wing, you need to change the controls in the cockpit, And then you need to recertify the aircraft with a whole new flight test schedule.

The new engine needs to fit in the same space as the existing engine and must be able to be flat-rated to the same max thrust as the existing engine. Being flat rated means any excess thrust the engine should have at sea level will show as the aircraft climbs, so you will see improved climb rates and reduced fuel burn.