By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
(Washington DC) The famous B1-B Lancer bomber may be more than 30-years old, yet the classic platform has surged into future decades with a wide range of evolving attributes to include new avionics, communications technologies, engines and even hypersonic bomb attack capacity. While a legacy platform heading toward eventual retirement and “end-of-service,” the B1-B has been preserved and sustained due to what the Air Force refers to as a “bomber deficit.” For many years, the service has maintained that its bomber fleet is insufficient to meet combatant Commander demands around the world, a circumstance which has led to massive service-life extensions of many of its platforms.
The strategy has been clear, as the Air Force wants to sustain its op-tempo of critical Bomber Task Force deployments and deterrence missions with its existing fleet until larger numbers of B-21s arrive. The overall approach is grounded in large measure upon the recognition that air frames from legacy aircraft often remain viable for decades after what may have been anticipated. With some maintenance and structural reinforcement, older airframes can surge into future decades with continued relevance and operational functionality.
B1-B WorkHorse
The Air Force’s B1-B bomber may capture fewer headlines than a sleek-looking, stealthy B-2 or F-35, yet the decades-old bomber has performed a massive volume of missions in recent years.
The B-1, which had its combat debut in Operation Desert Fox in 1998, went on to drop thousands of JDAMS during the multi-year wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The B-1 can hit speeds of MACH 1.25 at 40,000 feet and operates at a ceiling of 60,000 feet. It fires a wide range of bombs, including several JDAMs: GBU-31, GBU-38, and GBU-54. It also fires the small diameter bomb-GBU-39.
Therefore, despite its age, the B1-B has surged into continued service as part of a key strategy to retain a viable and effective bomber fleet until larger numbers of the new B-21 arrive in the fleet.
B1-B Overhaul
This is why the Air Force has been pursuing a massive technical overhaul of the B1-B, giving the aircraft an expanded weapons ability along with new avionics, communications technology, and engines. The engines have been refurbished in recent years to retain their original performance specs, and the B-1 has also been getting new targeting and intelligence systems. A new Integrated Battle Station includes new aircrew displays and communication links for in-flight data sharing.
Another upgrade called The Fully Integrated Targeting Pod connects the targeting pod control and video feed into B-1 cockpit displays. The B-1 will also be able to increase its carriage capacity of 500-pound class weapons by 60 percent due to Bomb Rack Unit upgrades.
Massive Weapons Capacity Upgrades
In recent years, the Air Force has also reconfigured the B-1B weapons bay to carry more weapons, increasing the B-1B’s magazine capacity from 24 weapons internally, all the way up to 40. The adjustments to the bomb bay will also enable the B-1B to carry hypersonic weapons, something which greatly increases the aircraft’s lethality. The bomb bay itself has been massively reconfigured in anticipation of weapons which have yet to exist.
Accommodating larger hypersonic weapons into a B-1B bomb bay brings a number of strategic implications; not only does it massively increase the target envelope and range but also allows for longer mission “dwell” time over targets to sustain attacks.
Integrating hypersonic weapons serves two key Air Force aims – accelerate hypersonic weapons to war and sustain and upgrade the B-1 to its maximum extent.Integrating large hypersonics also works with the Air Force’s broader intent to quickly merge innovations from the science and technology realm into operational use.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
