A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 15, 2026.
Edwards AFB said the bomber crashed on the base airfield at 11:20 local time. Emergency crews responded immediately. The base said the situation was still ongoing.
“More information will be provided as it becomes available,” Edwards AFB said in a statement posted to its official Facebook page.
Photos posted to social media showed fire and thick black smoke billowing from the crash site.
The base did not immediately release the number of crew members on board, their condition, the aircraft’s tail number or the cause of the crash.
Unconfirmed social media posts circulating before the Edwards statement identified the aircraft as B-52H tail number 60-0061.
The aircraft type has been active in flight-test work at Edwards. In December 2025, Edwards said B-52H 60-0061 had flown from Boeing’s San Antonio facility to the California base after receiving a modernized radar system as part of the B-52 modernization program.
The B-52, produced by Boeing, remains one of the oldest aircraft types in US Air Force service, but the service plans to keep the bomber flying into the 2050s through major upgrades. Those include new radar, communications and engine modernization work intended to turn the current B-52H fleet into the B-52J configuration.
The B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program will replace the bomber’s eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines with Rolls-Royce F130 engines. The program recently passed critical design review, clearing the way for Boeing to begin modifying two B-52H aircraft for ground and flight testing later in 2026.
The Air Force has not said whether the aircraft involved in the Edwards crash was connected to the radar modernization program, the engine replacement program or other test work.
Edwards AFB, located in California’s Mojave Desert, is home to the 412th Test Wing and serves as the Air Force’s primary flight-test center.