B-52 bomber crash came as Air Force was upgrading legendary workhorse - BERITAJA

The U.S. Air Force astatine Edwards Air Force Base was successful the process of tests to upgrade the aging fleet of B-52 bombers pinch caller engines and radar systems erstwhile 1 of the planes collapsed Monday, sidesplitting 8 people, officials said.

The tests, and planned upgrades for the bomber, are conscionable the latest successful what has been agelong history for the level that has undergone much than half a twelve transformations and has remained successful the U.S. arsenal for much than 70 years.

The B-52 is considered a legendary workhorse, remaining a cardinal portion of the military’s fleet for decades acknowledgment to changeless improvements to the planes.

It’s still unclear what caused the deadly clang astatine Edwards Air Force Base conscionable aft 11 a.m., sending a immense plume of fume from the base. In a property conference, Col. James Hayes said the B-52 that collapsed was supporting a “radar modernization program.”

Edwards Air Force Base officials confirmed the level collapsed shortly aft take-off of a “routine trial mission.” They declined to place the victims until the adjacent of kin had been notified.

The airfield remained closed Tuesday aft a nighttime of crews fighting mini start-up fires successful the area.

Air Force officials announced successful May and December that B-52s would beryllium undergoing testing astatine Edwards Air Force Base arsenic the Department of Defense looked to upgrade the plane’s engines and radar.

Efforts to upgrade and create a caller type of the iconic B-52 bomber person been ongoing for decades, making it a changeless beingness successful the country’s equipped conflicts from the Vietnam War to the Gulf and Iraq wars.

“Some of these airplanes are virtually doubly the property of the pilots who alert them,” said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines aviator and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts. But, he added, “if you return attraction of an airplane, you could alert them forever, basically.”

In December, Air Force officials announced a B-52 Stratofortress was ferried from Boeing’s San Antonio installation to Edwards Air Force Base aft it was equipped pinch a caller radar system. The aircraft, according to the statement, was group to acquisition a bid of tests passim 2026.

The Air Force has not said whether that was the B-52 that crashed.

In May, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center announced that Boeing was moving to modify 2 B-52H craft successful its San Antonio facility. The scheme was to switch the planes’ 1960s-era TF33 engines pinch F130 Rolls-Royce engines — and trial them astatine Edwards Air Force Base.

Pentagon officials referred questions to the U.S. Air Force. U.S. Air Force officials and officials astatine Edwards Air Force Base did not instantly respond to inquiries Tuesday.

As of November 2025, the Air Force’s fleet of B-52s were assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing astatine Minot Air Force Base successful North Dakota, the 2nd Bomb Wing astatine Barksdale Air Force Base successful Louisiana and the Air Force Reserve Command’s 307th Bomb Wing besides astatine Barksdale, according to the Air Force.

But immoderate of the Air Force’s B-52 fleet was taken to Edwards Air Force Base for testing.

Military officials person not released specifications of those who were onboard during the clang but, successful a statement, Boeing confirmed 2 of its labor were among crew.

As it happens, trial teams are sometimes accompanied by contractors, truthful they could inquire questions about the technology, said Brian Sinclair, a retired Navy trial aviator who graduated from the Air Force’s Test Pilot School and now runs consulting patient 3WIRE Solutions.

“Edwards, for the Air Force, is the bosom of developmental testing,” he said.

When Sinclair flew F-18s successful Iraq, he said he would often spot B-52s flying complete him.

“They conscionable person an unthinkable payload capacity,” Sinclair said. “They could driblet ample amounts of ordnance and they could besides transportation said ordnance very far.”

The first B-52, known arsenic the B-52A, first flew successful 1954 but, for much than 70 years, the dense bomber has undergone a bid of modifications and improvements.

It has a scope of 8,000 miles but, because it could refuel successful the air, the trade could enactment successful formation for overmuch longer. According to the U.S. Air Force, it besides has a payload capacity of 70,000 pounds.

As of November, a full of 58 B-52Hs are successful the military’s progressive force, pinch different 18 successful reserve, according to the U.S. Air Force.

“Even though the airframe from the original conception is rather old, the Air Force has stayed up pinch modifications,” said J. F. Joseph, a retired hose aviator and U.S. Marine Corps colonel who oversees Joseph Aviation Consulting.

Aimer said the plane’s longevity is grounds of its value to the Air Force: “It worked from Day One for the ngo that it was designed for and it does a awesome job,” he said. “It carries truthful overmuch ordnance, truthful galore bombs that we ne'er could switch it.”

Still, different aviation experts said the continual efforts to modify the B-52 suggests much robust and accordant subject backing is needed.

“We’re asking airmen to strap into jets that their grandfathers, fathers and now they are flying, and it is clip for a reset,” said Doug Birkey, executive head of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Described by the U.S. Air Force arsenic the “backbone of the parented strategical bomber unit for the United States,” the B-52 Stratofortress has been a captious craft for the country’s equipped conflicts.

According to the Air Force, B-52 Stratofortresses delivered 40% of each the weapons dropped by conjugation forces during Operation Desert Storm successful 1991. It was besides utilized to deed wide-area unit concentrations and bunkers.

Two B-52H’s were besides utilized to deed Baghdad’s powerfulness stations and communications accommodation successful 1996 during Operation Desert Strike, utilizing air-launched cruise missiles. That mission, according to the Air Force, was the longest region flown for a combat ngo astatine the time, pinch the planes making a 16,000-mile information travel from Barksdale Air Force Base successful Louisiana for the 34-hour flight.

The B-52 was brought backmost again for Operation Enduring Freedom successful 2001, providing adjacent aerial support arsenic it hovered supra the battlefield, according to the U.S. Air Force.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom successful 2003, it launched about 100 miles during a azygous nighttime mission.

Officials said Monday’s clang took spot instantly upon takeoff.

Such low-altitude emergencies are peculiarly vulnerable because planes are typically dense pinch substance and crews person small clip to respond fixed really adjacent they are to the crushed and really slow they are moving, Aimer said.

“It’s about apt the worst clip for immoderate awesome nonaccomplishment to happen, for them to power it,” Aimer said.

The deadly clang marked what aviation experts told The Times was an different robust information grounds for the seasoned plane. Before Monday, the about caller incident involving a B-52 occurred successful Guam successful 2016, aft the craft overran the runway and crashed. In 2008, different B-52 collapsed disconnected the seashore of Guam, sidesplitting six.

In 1982, a B-52 besides collapsed extracurricular of Sacramento Mather Air Force Base, sidesplitting 9 group onboard.