Rolls-Royce North America Wins USD 500 Million Contract To Build Replacement Engines For B-52

Rolls-Royce North America has been awarded a contract worth USD 500 million to build replacement engines for Air Force’s B-52 fleet. This upgrade program is a major development for the B-52H fleet. The up-gradation program has been in the pipeline for years. This will help US Air Force B-52 bombers to keep flying through 2050. Reports suggest that the contract will most likely create hundreds of new jobs. Up to 150 of them are likely to be generated during the first year of the contract. Talking about the contract, Rolls-Royce North America Chairman and CEO Tom Bell said that it has a six-year base timeline.

The contract could generate even more dollars for Rolls-Royce. According to Roll-Royce, there are chances of this contract going up to USD 2.6 billion if the Air Force exercises all options. “We at Rolls-Royce are extremely delighted and honored for being chosen by the US Air Force. We are humbled that we now have the privilege to lend our name to this iconic brand of the B-52,” Bell said. He said that the contract is in a way an opportunity to return the investment that has been put in by the Hoosier workforce for years. We will now have B-52 added to the list of engines that Rolls Royce power. Rolls-Royce had made clear its intentions to pursue the contract to replace engines for the B-52 of the US Air Forces. This is one of the largest contracts that the company has ever pursued. The US Air Force had received four bids for the project to replace engines of B-52.

When asked to comment on what helped Rolls-Royce win the contract, Bell said he would not like to speculate that and left it to Air Force to explain. As part of the contract, the company would provide 608 F-130 commercial engines. Apart from replacing engines, Rolls Royce will also provide engineering data and associated support. The replacement work will most likely continue till 2038. Roll-Royce said that now that it has the contract to work with the US Air Force, it would like to work closely with Boeing. Shortly after the announcement, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett congratulated the company and said that it would give high-skilled jobs to the community. “The contract would help the company in generating 150 high-skilled jobs. This contract is based on our tradition of innovation in the aerospace industry. Rolls-Royce will build engines for replacement as B-52 in Indianapolis. It must be noted that the company recently invested USD 600 million in the modernization of its operations center.