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Upgrades to extend B-52 Bomber's lifespan until 2044

I still believe the 52 will be retired much sooner than that. It will be around a little while longer but upgrading them doesn't necessarily mean they will stay in service. I remember the 84 F-111F's being upgraded to Pacer Strike standard in 1992 which brought that variant of the 111 up to date. The Air Force retired the 111 in 1996 not long after Pacer Strike was completed on the F version(intended to also eventually upgrade E and G models for force standardization). In the case of the 52, updating to an all glass cockpit and other avionics upgrades fail to address the issues related to aging TF-33 engines and airframe fatigue accelerated by mission tempo requirements. The airframes and powerplants can be updated to make them last out to 2044 but I have a strong feeling the latter will not materialize and we will see the type retired before 2025 with no immediate replacement on hand or in the pipeline. If any do make it to 2044, it will probably be just a handful and they will be spent.
 
Wow,....kinda' hard to comprehend. Quick math tells me the B-52 will be around 92 years or so when the final bell tolls for it. It's theoretically possible that the great, great, great, gran'son could have flown his great, great, great, gran' father's aircraft.
 
brad kaste said:
Wow,....kinda' hard to comprehend. Quick math tells me the B-52 will be around 92 years or so when the final bell tolls for it. It's theoretically possible that the great, great, great, gran'son could have flown his great, great, great, gran' father's aircraft.
Click to expand...

They should plan on an extra 8 years to get to the 100th anniversary ofthe Buffs first flight!
 
Of course we're all assuming that our military will remain intact through 2044, nowadays I'm not too sure about that.
 
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