The U.S. Air Force, in September 2021, after what can only be described as decades of anticipation, finally selected a supplier for the B-52 bomber engines. The chosen company is Rolls-Royce, which will ultimately deliver F130 engines worth $2.6 billion.
As noted by the company, their F130 engine successfully passed the critical design review (CDR) as of October this year, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing project to equip the B-52 bombers with new engines, as reported to Breaking Defense.
Overall, Rolls-Royce highlights that to fully "close" this phase, they will need to complete several additional steps, which they estimate will take a few months. However, the company’s specialists are currently focused on conducting all necessary supplementary tests.
As for the details, the CDR was actually supposed to take place earlier this year in January. Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce assures that the nine-month delay is not critical and that the project implementation is proceeding according to the schedules established by the U.S. Air Force.
When discussing the modernization of the B-52 bombers as a whole, it was noted back in August this year that the process is not progressing as quickly as desired.