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Senator Jill Schramm / DND John Hoeven, center, talks about a Rolls Royce contract to replace B-52 engines at a press conference at Minot town hall on Saturday. To the left is Mayor Shaun Sipma and to the right is Council Member Mark Jantzer with the Minot Military Retention Committee, Task Force 21.
A US Air Force workhorse, the B-52 bomber, will get new Rolls Royce engines with the award of a $ 2.6 billion contract.
Senator John Hoeven, R-ND, a member of the Senate Defense Credits Committee, told Minot on Saturday that manufacturing can now begin on what is expected to be 608 new engines under a renewable contract with Rolls Royce until 2038, a 17-year commitment. The engines will be manufactured in Indianapolis. The engines are part of a larger upgrade that will allow the B-52s to fly until 2050.
“It’s going to be audibly different” said the mayor of Minot, Shaun Sipma, who noted that the high whistle of the engine of a B-52 flying overhead will change for residents of the Minot area,
The engine program is one of $ 512 million in upgrades authorized by the federal government to the B-52 in 2021. Radar, communications systems and a weapons system are among additional upgrades to come. The first steps of nuclear modernization were also approved this exercise, related to the replacement of the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III, the maintenance of the missiles and the replacement of the helicopters.
“We have to make sure that our men and women in uniform have the best, and that’s what it is about,” said Hoeven, who also spoke about the need to maintain a strong defense. “We must continue to modernize and invest in maintaining the nuclear triad, not just at Minot Air Base. “
Minot’s military retention committee, Task Force 21, has just returned from sponsoring a symposium in Washington, DC.
“The message was that we need a strong defense in this nation”, said Mark Jantzer, chairman of the task force, citing threats from China and Russia. “While we were waging the war on terror, they tried to find a way to catch up with us and improve.”
Hoeven said the first eight MH-139 Gray Wolf helicopters to replace the Vietnam-era Hueys were included in the 2021 fiscal year appropriation. Hoeven said there was a delay in the certification of the helicopters. by the Federal Aviation Administration, but that groundbreaking for a new helicopter hangar at Minot AFB is on track for this fall or next spring.
Minot AFB uses helicopters in the missile field.
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