The Bomber Agile Common Hangar, or BACH, will expand depot capacity and remove physical constraints on maintenance operations, according to the Air Force. The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex will oversee the work housed within the facility.
Preparing for B-21 Raider maintenance
The project gives Tinker a common facility for B-52 modernization and future B-21 sustainment. The Air Force said the additional depot capacity will help meet the demands of the 2026 National Defense Strategy.
“At the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, we say that readiness starts here, and today is about propelling that readiness forward,” said Brig. Gen. Lindsay Droz, the complex’s commander. “We are moving beyond the legacy of World War II hangars to create purpose-built environments that are designed for the next generation of airpower.”
The hangar will initially accommodate the B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program and Radar Modernization Program. Those upgrades are intended to support the Stratofortress through 2050, while preparing the base for its maintenance role supporting the B-21.
“This effort to design a common facility that marries the Air Force’s legacy giant with our future sixth-generation bombers is exactly the type of creative and smart planning required of us as warfighters today,” said Col. Spencer Turner, B-52 system program manager. “To maintain deterrence and project United States interests, we must project power… and the BACH is that strength made physical.”
Building on Tinker’s bomber maintenance experience
Tinker inducted its first B-52 in 1955, beginning decades of maintenance work on the aircraft. Col. Cisco Harris, installation and 72nd Air Base Wing commander, said the workforce’s experience underpinned the Air Force’s decision to select the base for the future mission.
“Because of the incredible workforce travelling to Tinker Air Force Base from 52 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties every day, we are able to do something truly extraordinary,” Harris said. “Air Force leaders selected Tinker for this critical future mission due to our uniquely talented workforce, armed with decades of unparalleled experience supporting global strike options for our Commander in Chief.”
The planned transition from B-52 upgrades to B-21 maintenance puts the hangar at the center of Tinker’s preparations to sustain the next generation of bombers. Turner described the common facility as an investment designed to serve changing requirements over its lifetime.
“It is the ultimate embodiment of our ‘buy once, agile for life’ strategy,” Turner added. “Every contract we sign, every component we model, and every square foot of concrete we pour is dedicated to giving warfighters the tools they need to fly, fix, and fight.”
