The U.S. Air Force is spending more than $20 million to reduce technical risks in mounting a hypersonic missile on the B-52 Stratofortress, a bomber that first flew during the Eisenhower administration. The Department of Defense recently awarded a contract modification for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile program tied to the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment, or SCIFiRE, directing funds toward additional hardware meant to close gaps in the weapon’s integration with the aging airframe. The investment signals that the Pentagon views the B-52 not as a relic but as a delivery platform of choice for hypersonic weapons.
What the $20 Million Modification Covers
The contract action, formally designated P00024, modifies a previously awarded task order under the SCIFiRE program. According to the official contract announcement, the modification is valued at $20,379,092 and falls under task order FA8656-22-F-A071. Its stated purpose is to procure additional hardware that will “buy down specific risks” in the effort to pair a hypersonic cruise missile with the B-52 platform. The language is deliberately sparse on which components are involved, but the phrase “buy down specific risks” is Pentagon shorthand for purchasing test articles, structural interfaces, or subsystem prototypes that let engineers stress-test a design before committing to full production.
The Air Force Research Laboratory oversees the SCIFiRE task order, and the modification includes a performance completion date, though the Pentagon’s public summary does not spell out the schedule in detail. What the record does confirm is that this is not a new start. It builds on a contract line that has been active since at least 2022, when the original task order was awarded. With the program now on its 24th modification, each incremental change adds a slice of capability or resolves a specific technical bottleneck. That cadence suggests the effort is still in a test-and-learn phase rather than a production ramp, which is typical for weapons that must operate at speeds exceeding Mach 5 and survive the extreme thermal loads that come with them.
Why the B-52 Keeps Getting New Missions
Choosing the B-52 as the host platform for a hypersonic weapon may seem counterintuitive. The airframe entered service in 1955, and its basic aerodynamic shape has not changed in nearly seven decades. Yet that longevity is precisely what makes it attractive. The bomber’s large internal bays and external pylons can accommodate oversized weapons that would not fit on a fighter or even a smaller bomber. Its unrefueled range, measured in thousands of miles, gives it the ability to launch a hypersonic strike from well outside an adversary’s defensive perimeter. And because the Air Force already operates and maintains a sizable B-52 fleet, adding a new weapon type costs far less than designing a new aircraft from scratch.
The SCIFiRE program is a joint effort with Australia, reflected in the “Southern Cross” portion of its name. The collaboration pools research funding and flight-test data between the two allies, both of whom face strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific where long-range strike capability is at a premium. For the Air Force, arming the B-52 with a hypersonic cruise missile effectively turns a subsonic bomber into a platform that can threaten targets at speeds no existing air defense system is designed to counter. That potential to compress response times and complicate enemy planning is a core reason the Pentagon continues to invest in hypersonic integration rather than waiting for a next-generation bomber to shoulder the entire mission.
Risk Reduction Before Production
The concept of “buying down risk” with dedicated hardware purchases reflects lessons the Pentagon learned on earlier hypersonic and advanced missile programs. Several prior efforts, including experimental boost-glide systems, suffered schedule slips and cost overruns when integration problems surfaced late in development, after tooling and production contracts were already locked in. By spending $20,379,092 now on additional test hardware, the Air Force can probe structural, thermal, and software interfaces between the missile and the B-52’s pylons, wiring, and fire-control systems before those mismatches harden into expensive redesigns or fleetwide retrofits.
This incremental approach also illustrates a broader shift in how the Department of Defense manages high-speed weapon development. Instead of funding a single prime contractor to deliver a complete system on a rigid timeline, the Pentagon is using iterative task-order modifications to keep the program flexible. Each modification, including P00024, is scoped to answer a narrow set of technical questions. If the results are favorable, the next modification funds the subsequent step. If not, the program can adjust the design or test plan without scrapping years of work. That structure is particularly well suited to hypersonic technology, where engineering margins are razor-thin and a single failed flight can expose fundamental design flaws.
Strategic Stakes in the Hypersonic Race
China and Russia have both publicly showcased hypersonic weapons, underscoring a competition in which the United States has acknowledged it is working to close the gap. The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, or HACM, is one of several parallel U.S. efforts aimed at fielding operational systems rather than just prototypes. What distinguishes HACM from boost-glide designs is its use of an air-breathing scramjet engine, which allows the missile to sustain hypersonic speed over a longer portion of its flight instead of coasting after a rocket boost. That sustained velocity makes the weapon harder to track and intercept, and it gives B-52 crews more flexibility in choosing launch points that balance survivability, timing, and target geometry.
Mounting such a weapon on the B-52 also extends the bomber’s relevance well into the 2050s, when the airframe is expected to serve alongside newer stealth bombers. The Pentagon has already committed to re-engining the B-52 fleet with modern commercial-derived turbofans, a separate investment aimed at improving fuel efficiency, reliability, and power generation for new avionics and weapons. Adding a hypersonic strike role strengthens the case for those upgrades by tying them to a mission that is central to U.S. deterrence strategy. In effect, each dollar spent on HACM integration doubles as a dollar spent on keeping the B-52 operationally indispensable, because a bomber that can deliver a weapon few adversaries can counter is difficult to retire in any future budget debate.
What Remains Unknown
For all the money flowing into the program, significant questions remain unanswered in the public record. The Pentagon’s summary of the modification does not specify which hardware components the $20,379,092 will purchase, nor does it identify the subcontractors responsible for designing and building them. It also does not disclose how many test articles will be produced under this action or how they will be divided among ground testing, captive-carry flights, and live launches. Those omissions are typical for sensitive weapons programs but make it harder for outside observers to gauge how close HACM is to operational status or how much integration work remains.
What is clear from the structure of the contract is that the Air Force and its partners are still focused on risk reduction rather than mass production. The reliance on a long-running task order, continually updated through discrete modifications, suggests that engineers are methodically burning down technical uncertainties tied to the B-52 interface, the hypersonic missile’s airframe, and its propulsion and guidance systems. Until those uncertainties are fully resolved, the program will likely continue to move in carefully scoped increments, trading speed for technical confidence. For a weapon intended to operate at the edge of current engineering limits, that cautious, hardware-intensive path may be the only realistic way to ensure that when the B-52 finally carries HACM into service, both aircraft and missile perform as intended under the most demanding conditions.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
