The Air Force is examining the development of an Advanced Wing Weapons Pylon (AWWP) for the B-52H and a long-term buy of up to 130 AWWPs to replace the bomber’s Improved Common Pylon (ICP), designed in 1959 and fielded in the 1960s.
“The B-52 program is conducting market research to identify potential providers capable of
delivering accelerated pylon designs and modifying current carriage equipment,” according to a business notice by Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s bombers directorate.
“The government currently estimates a time frame of 36 months resulting in a design that meets customer approval at critical design review for a replacement weapons release pylon
(incorporating heavy weapon 1760E series capability) ready to integrate onto the aircraft with
required support equipment,” the notice said. “However, the government requests industry feedback on the feasibility of this timeline. Following completion, the AWWP must enter production with an initial requirement of 20-24 pylons, with a minimum of 12 to be delivered within the first year of production, and an anticipated long-term requirement for approximately 130 pylons.”
The 1760E is the standard electrical interface between a military aircraft and what it carries externally.
The new AWWP is to hold conventional or nuclear munitions up to 20,000 pounds. The pylon/stores weight limitation for the wing’s hard point is 28,000 pounds.
When the Air Force fielded ICP, “there wasn’t a requirement, nor did anyone foresee a need to carry weapons heavier than 5,000 lbs.,” according to the business notice. “It was modified in the late 1990s to incorporate MIL-STD-1760E technology into the current ICP configuration and has performed exceptionally well. Although it has met all expectations to this point, it has limitations regarding heavy weight capacity, including questionable structural integrity under modern loads. With current heavy weapons exceeding 5,000 lbs., there is a new requirement for a replacement external carriage pylon assembly to facilitate these and other emerging needs.”
The last Boeing-built B-52H fielded in October 1962, and, while the Air Force looks to field 100 or more Northrop Grumman B-21 stealth bombers to replace the service’s B-1s and B-2s, the future path for the B-52 is under consideration.
In fiscal 2027, the Air Force requests $1 million to kick off a “new heavy bomber analysis of alternatives” to examine a possible replacement for the B-52s. The $1 million in funding would start “planning activities to develop key performance parameters, key system attributes, and additional performance attributes for a follow-on heavy bomber in the USAF.”
The Air Force has been pursuing two main upgrades to convert the B-52Hs into B-52Js–the Commercial Engine Replacement Program to replace the bomber’s eight Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-103 engines with Rolls-Royce F130 engines and the Radar Modernization Program to replace the bomber’s Northrop Grumman APQ-166 with an active electronically scanned array radar based on RTX’s APG-79.
Now, the Air Force is turning to the integration of more weapons and new ones on the B-52. The service requests $50 million in fiscal 2027 to integrate the latest versions of the family of AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) by Lockheed Martin on the B-52. In addition, the service requests $30 million in research and development to replace ICP with AWWP.
“This is the key that unlocks all future heavy-weight weapon capabilities for the B-52,” the Air Force said of AWWP in the service’s fiscal 2027 budget request. “Pre-acquisition activities [are] to structure the integration of a GFE [government-furnished equipment] weapon onto the AWWP.”
The latter effort “will design, develop, integrate and field a new pylon onto the B-52 to take advantage of increased mass provided to the battlefield,” the Air Force said. “Specifically, the current pylons carry limited weapons (i.e. 6x JASSM each) at limited weight, where AWWP will increase carriage capacity in both weight and amount (i.e. 8x JASSM each).”
The Air Force’s fleet of B-52Hs is now 75 after a bomber testing the new radar crashed during take-off from Edwards AFB, Calif., on June 15. The crash killed all eight crew members, including the pilot, a Boeing employee and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, and the weapons systems officer, a colonel in the Air Force Reserves who worked at Boeing.
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