Report: B-52 Modernization Program Faces Key Hurdles

Efforts to keep the U.S. Air Force bombers flying into the 2050s are running into cost and schedule concerns.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, August 05, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

A B-52H Stratofortress, assigned to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, taxis on the flight line at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in 2024. [Credit: U.S. Air Force]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Air Force's B-52 bomber modernization program faces widespread issues, with 10 out of 13 projects experiencing cost overruns, schedule delays, or performance problems, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The most critical and expensive projects, the Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP) and Radar Modernization Program (RMP), are particularly troubled, facing all three types of issues, significant cost increases (30-38%), and delays exceeding three years.
These delays threaten the operational readiness of the B-52, a crucial nuclear-capable asset, due to difficulties in sustaining older engines and ongoing development challenges, further exacerbated by maintenance capacity issues and parts shortages.

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The U.S. Air Force faces cost overruns, schedule delays, or performance issues for the majority of its 13 programs aimed at modernizing the B-52 bomber, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Researchers found that 10 projects face at least one of these issues, including those aimed at upgrading the B-52’s engines and radar, which are contending with all three. According to GAO, the engine and radar efforts have an estimated price tag of $18 million, or about 88 percent of the $21 billion the Air Force is spending on modernization. They are also the most time-intensive aspects of the program, it said.