B-52 Crash Happened During Test Sortie Supporting Radar Upgrade

The B-52H Stratofortress that crashed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on June 15 was helping test a new advanced radar that is key to a sweeping modernization of the six-decade old bomber. The Air Force has flown the B-52H since the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, and the service wants to keep it in service into the 2050s as a complement to the new B-21 Raider stealth bomber still in testing.
To keep the venerable bomber relevant for a modern fight, the Air Force launched a Radar Modernization Program to replace the legacy mechanical AN/APQ-166 radar with the active electronically scanned array AN/APQ-188 radar. Along with the modern radar, the service is also working on outfitting the B-52 with new Rolls-Royce engines, improved avionics, new digital cockpit displays, new weapons, better communication systems, and other changes. When the fleet is fully modified in the 2030s, the Stratofortress will be redesignated the B-52J.
Late in the morning of June 15 local time, a B-52 with eight crew members aboard—including service members, government civilians, and contractors supporting the test mission—crashed immediately after takeoff. The plane erupted into flames so severe they consumed practically the entire aircraft. Col. James Hayes, deputy commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards, called the event a “tragedy” in a June 15 news conference and said it was clear no one could have survived.
Top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, posted to social media mourning the loss of the eight aboard the plane.
Boeing, which originally built the B-52 and is the lead contractor on integrating the new modernized systems, confirmed later that evening that two of its employees died in the crash.
Hayes said the B-52 had just taken off to conduct a test sortie and was supporting the Radar Modernization Program.
A B-52 loaded with the new APQ-188 radar—a system developed by Raytheon Technologies that can better navigate and target in all weather conditions—flew from Boeing’s San Antonio, Texas, facility to Edwards in December 2025.
A spokesperson at Edwards was not immediately able to confirm if the B-52 that arrived in December was the one that crashed. It is unclear what effect, if any, the B-52 crash might have on the radar program or the broader modernization effort.
But the radar program has had difficulties in recent years, including technical integration challenges and cost growth that triggered a law in spring 2025 requiring congressional notification, and delays that contributed to the B-52J’s projected initial operational capability slipping three years. The radar program’s troubles led the Air Force to scale back its scope, a Pentagon report said in March.
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