For more than 50 years, L3Harris has provided the U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress Strategic Bomber with advanced electronic warfare (ADVEW) technology, and recently reached another major milestone in the company work to keep this iconic aircraft relevant, lethal and survivable for decades to come. During a recent 5.3-hour test flight over Texas, L3Harris team successfully tested five of the nine Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) they are upgrading in the B-52’s AN/ALQ-172 electronic warfare (EW) self-protection system. The maintainability and reliability system (MARS) upgrade, as part of a 10-year, $947 million contract the USAF awarded to L3Harris in 2021, improving performance, maintainability and reliability. As part of the MARS contract, L3Harris has redesigned seven of the nine LRUs in the EW system and is nearing completion of redesigns for the final two.
“The electronic threat landscape grows more complex and contested every day, underscoring the importance of our continued EW enhancements to the B-52. The flight test showed that we’re providing the advanced capabilities needed to ensure the aircraft and its crews remain mission-ready and effective well into the 2050s,” says Jimmy Mercado, L3Harris Program Director.
Ultimately, the upgrades will further assist the USAF with their Global Strike Mission and strengthen the B-52’s effectiveness in modern warfare while making future upgrades cheaper and easier. Five LRUs were tested together for the first time during the flight. All performed as expected, demonstrating stability, reliability, and particular strength in three key areas:
- Acquisition: finding and tracking targets or signals
- Electronic countermeasure (ECM) response time: speed at which the system can respond with countermeasures like jamming
- Geolocation: ability to determine precise location of threats or signals
The award is part of the Air Force’s Global Strike Command B-52 Quad Crew Program to consolidate the functions of the electronic warfare officer and navigator into one position. The B-52H is currently operated by a five-person crew that includes two pilots, two navigators and an electronic warfare officer. The joint effort with the customer-led Crew Station Working Group will include a series of analysis – such as aircraft weight and balance, structural and electrical load analysis and thermal cooling – to identify any impact on the B-52 airframe and inform the modification kit design. L3Harris has been providing critical B-52 technology for decades as the Original Equipment Manufacturer of the AN/ALQ-172 systems for this aircraft fleet. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the U.S. Air Force since the 1950s.
