Rolls-Royce North America has been selected to provide the powerplant for the B-52 Stratofortress under the Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP), further extending a long history of powering the US Air Force.
The decision means the American-made Rolls-Royce F-130 engine will power the B-52 for the next 30 years and was made after a vigorous multi-year competition.
The F130 and its commercial family of engines have accumulated more than 27 million engine flight hours. The F130 is considered the perfect fit for the B-52 with proven reliability, superb life cycle cost, and low integration risk. A variant of the Rolls-Royce engine selected to power the iconic B-52 is already in service with the USAF around the world, powering both the C-37 and E-11 BACN aircraft.
Tom Bell, chairman and CEO, Rolls-Royce North America, and President – Defense, said: “We are proud to join a truly iconic US Air Force program and provide world-class, American-made engines that will power its missions for the next 30 years. The F130 is a proven, efficient, modern engine that is the perfect fit for the B-52.”
The F130 offers outstanding reliability with high mission readiness and low maintenance demands. Once installed, the F130 can stay on wing for the entire planned B-52 lifetime. In addition, the F130 engine will provide vastly greater fuel efficiency, increased range, and reduced tanker aircraft requirements. As importantly, the engine is ready for integration using Rolls-Royce ‘state of the art’ digital engineering tools.
Rolls-Royce will build and test the F130 engines at its Indianapolis facility in Indiana following the recent completion of a $600 million investment to revitalise the advanced manufacturing campus — providing some of the most technologically advanced manufacturing capabilities anywhere in the world. The B-52 CERP win creates demand for 650 engines to be produced at the site and will bring 150 new high-tech, high-skilled jobs to the state of Indiana.
Craig McVay, SVP Strategic Campaigns, Rolls-Royce Defense said: “This is a major win for Rolls-Royce. We have been planning and preparing for this outcome and are ready to hit the ground running to prove that we are the best choice for the Air Force and the B-52.”
Rolls-Royce has a long and successful history providing thousands of engines to the US Air Force for more than 70 years. Rolls-Royce powers C-130H, C-130J, CV-22 Osprey and Global Hawk in the USAF fleet — all engines designed and manufactured in Indianapolis.