A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress during training exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., on Nov. 18, 2025. (William R. Lewis/U.S. Air Force)

Boeing received a $2 billion contract last month to start work on extending the life of 60-year-old U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers into the 2060s.

The program to upgrade all 76 B-52Hs is expected to cost $48.6 billion. The Air Force will redesignate the bombers as B-52J.

The $2 billion contract awarded on Dec. 23 is to upgrade two aircraft with new engines, avionics and other systems, which can be tested before the rest of the planes are converted.

Since entering service with the Air Force in 1955, the B-52 has been powered by eight TF-33 Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines. Pratt & Whitney has said it could no longer support maintenance on the engines after 2030.

Under the Commercial Engine Replacement Program, the Air Force sought new powerplants already used in civilian aircraft that could be converted to use in the B-52.

The winning plan calls for eight Rolls-Royce F-130 engines used in the Gulfstream G650 business jet and in the military variants of the light jet transport, the C-37.

A B-52H with possible weapons loads on display at Barksdale Air Force Base in 2006. (U.S. Air Force)

The plan would also upgrade brakes and wheels, improve avionics and communications and convert some remaining analog dials in the bombers’ cockpit to digital displays.

The upgrade is expected to keep the B-52H — delivered in 1961 and 1962 — flying as late as the 2060s. The Air Force said some planes could surpass 100 years in service.

The Air Force wants to keep the B-52 because it can carry over 70,000 pounds of weaponry more than 8,600 miles without refueling.

The Air Force’s three current bombers take flight at the 2017 Barksdale Air Force Base air show in Louisiana: the B-52H Stratofortress (far right), B-1 Lancer (upper left), and B-2 Spirit (lower left). (Curt Beach/U.S. Air Force)

The Air Force plans to retire its B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers by the end of the decade while it receives about 100 Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bombers.

The B-52 was initially built as a high-altitude heavy bomber to replace the Convair B-36 Peacemaker strategic bomber. It could reach targets in the Soviet Union, more than 8,000 miles away.

In its conventional bomber role, it served in the Vietnam War, earning the nickname BUFF — for “Big Ugly Fat Fella,” though variations substituting an expletive for “Fella” were common.

Flying at subsonic speeds with no stealth capability, the B-52 has shifted to a role as a launch platform for stand-off conventional and nuclear missiles.

“The B-52 is capable of dropping or launching the widest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory,” according to an Air Force profile of the bomber. “This includes gravity bombs, cluster bombs, precision guided missiles and joint direct attack munitions.”

The B-52Hs are currently assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, in North Dakota, and the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, in Louisiana. Both wings are part of Air Force Global Strike Command. The Air Force Reserve Command’s 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale also operates the B-52H.

The first B-52 flew in 1952 and was delivered to the Air Force in 1955. The Air Force received 755 B-52s in total, with the last models — the B-52H — delivered in 1961 and 1962.

Work on the B-52 upgrades will be done in Seattle, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Indianapolis, the Pentagon said. The work is expected to be completed in 2033.

The second B-21 Raider bomber takes off from Edwards Air Force Base in California in December 2025. (U.S. Air Force)