ARMY AL&T
THE LEGEND CONTINUES
Joint ef fort between the ERDC and the U.S. Air Force means the B-52 will fly on.
by Megan Holland F
irst introduced in 1955, the Boeing B-52 aircraft has a rich history. Te success of a recent effort led by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Information Technology Laboratory to facilitate the selection of an opti- mal replacement for the aging, original engines—deemed unsustainable within the next decade due to a disappearing supply chain—means that legacy will continue.
“Te Air Force plans to use the legendary B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft through the 2050s and aims to keep the aircraft operational by procuring new engine systems that will replace the engines currently in use across the fleet of aircraft,” said IT Lab Supercomput- ing Research Center COO York Yarbro. “Te last B-52 rolled off the production line in 1962, and inventory issues were threatening to ground the fleet.”
PRESERVING THE FUNDAMENTAL In response, the Air Force developed the Commercial Engine Replacement Program to iden- tify a replacement for the legacy engines on the aircraft and, ultimately, extend the B-52 life cycle. Te goal was to develop an ecosystem that would allow the use of a digital twin approach to model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and permit a quicker turnaround when conducting evaluations and down-selects. Te Air Force also wanted the new engines to be so maintainer-friendly and efficient that they would pay for themselves within 10 years.
“Faced with the challenge of establishing a digital infrastructure that could support rapid evaluations of proposed prototypes prior to physical development, the Air Force turned to” the IT Lab, Yarbro said. “We had experience in designing and deploying virtual ecosys- tems that support pre- and post-processing of design activities, as well as experience with configuration and version control for fast-running analysis tools.” Te IT Lab, he continued, “primarily through the [Supercomputing Research Center], brought to bear the ability to integrate a number of tools and configure them for the unique requirements of this effort.”
Model-based systems engineering is a method that uses modeling to support system require- ments, design, analysis, verification and validation. A foundation of digital engineering for
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