Pratt & Whitney To Power B-52s and E-3s For Years To Come
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A Much-Needed Upgrade
It looks like Pratt & Whitney is going to power the Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress and E-3 Sentry aircraft for years to come.
The news came after the Pentagon awarded the company with an $870 million sole-source contract for six years with an optional 4-year extension.
Pratt & Whitney will be making 1,000 TF-33 engines under the contract, providing maintenance, spare parts, and engineering support at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and other Air Force bases.
Still, one of the more concerning parts of the contract is keeping the spare parts flowing since the TF33 relied on smaller suppliers to make the niche parts – some of whom had already gone out of business over the years.
Hopefully, P&W’s contract can provide funding to make these spare parts for themselves.
