The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon Co. an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract with a $603 million ceiling for B-52 production that provides for radar modernization on B-52 aircraft.

The fiscal 2026 procurement will be handled by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center with work performed in Forrest, Mich.; El Segundo, Ca.; McKinney, Texas; and Warner Robbins, Ga. Work is expected to be completed in 2031 with modernization including integration of the new AN/APQ-188 radar from Raytheon Co., a subsidiary of RTX. 

As part of the B-52’s modernization program, a second contract was awarded at the same time to B-52 prime contractor Boeing Co. for bomb rack modernization kits.

Newer radars developed by Raytheon RTX, such as its PhantomStrike radar (see image above), take advantage of high-power-density semiconductors, such as gallium-nitride (GaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) to achieve excellent radar range in a fraction of the size and weight of existing radar systems. The AN/APQ-188 radar is expected to replace the B-52’s older AN/APQ-166 radar system.