B-1 Lancer - The Bone - Supersonic Bomber

the b-1 lancer is considered an icon of the last decades of the cold war this exceptional aircraft could fly at night through mountains and as low as 200 feet without being detected by air defense systems it's flown over 12 000 sorties over syria libya afghanistan and iraq and even to this day the aircraft remains relevant from the beginning the plans to build the b1 faced significant opposition it was even cancelled at one point by president jimmy carter who thought the bomber was too expensive still the b1 has endured the bone as it's popularly known might be retired from service in the year 2036. until then it continues to surprise with its speed maneuverability and unique weapon system [Music] development in 1964 the u.s air force launched the advanced manned strategic aircraft program a revised version of a previous project the boeing b52 strider fortress was a great strategic bomber but it couldn't fly at low altitude the program stuck in the possibility of a high speed low altitude bomber that combined the payload and range of the v52 with the convair b-58 hustler's speed however the project was primarily kept on the sidelines because secretary of defense robert mcnamara preferred upgrading the b-52 within investing in a new expensive fleet of bombers but in 1969 the united states general plan for nuclear war allowed the program to come back to life in april of that year it was designated as the b1a and the request for proposals was issued months later north american rockwell was granted the development contract for 240 b1as set to have initial operational capability for 1979. rockwell's design contemplated large variable sweep wings that provided the aircraft with high lift during takeoff and low drag at high speed to achieve viable low altitude performance at mach 0.85 lightweight high-strength titanium was used for the fuselage and wing structure the first prototype of the b1a flew on december 23rd 1974. the program quickly came into question after soviet pilot victor bolenko defected to the west aboard his mig-25 foxbat when it was discovered that his aircraft could successfully track and attack low-altitude planes the usefulness of the b1a was unclear the revelation that the new mig-31 foxhound could target ground talking penetrators also shook faith in the program simultaneously the trusted b-52s were being outfitted with air-launched cruise missiles that could be launched outside the range of soviet air defenses then presidential candidate jimmy carter even stated quote the b-1 bomber is an example of a proposed system which should not be funded and would be wasteful of taxpayers dollars when carter became president he decided to cancel the v1 project to favor other programs based on stealth technology and further upgrades to the b-52 the main reason for the cancellation was the increasing cost of the project each b1 had a price of 100 million dollars and a lifetime estimate of only 20 years but in 1981 during ronald reagan's presidency priorities shifted for the department of defense as the soviet union's military and aircraft became more powerful the new administration awarded rockwell 2.2 billion dollars to develop and produce 100 b-1 bombers the company developed the b-1b which traded a decreased maximum speed in exchange for an equally reduced radar signature the new version of the bomber had a low level speed of mach 0.92 and a maximum speed of mach 1.25 at high altitudes the b1b finally flew on october 18th 1984. still the air force considered it a vulnerable aircraft to soviet defenses the bone [Music] the b-1 lancer or bone as it's popularly called is a versatile aircraft that went beyond its original design from nuclear war its characteristics allow it to have long range maneuverability and high speed but the bomber's most notable feature is this extremely versatile multi-mission weapon system it can carry the largest payload of guided and unguided weapons from all the air force bombers seventy-five thousand pounds versus the is 70 000 pounds a synthetic aperture radar allows it to deliver non-precision gravity bombs [Music] multiple upgrades including the last one in august of 2019 have increased the number of weapons they can carry internally and externally nowadays it's even capable of carrying hypersonic missiles the bone is made of radar reflecting materials and can fly at low and mid-level altitudes which helps it remain undetected its four general electric engines allow it to reach supersonic speed in march of 2008 it became the first us air force aircraft to fly at supersonic speed using a synthetic fuel the b1 also has a terrain following system that allows it to fly through mountains while flying at a low altitude the system makes it hard for air defense systems to distinguish the plane from the terrain around it major coyote laney a b-1b pilot instructor from the 28th bomb squadron described a popular mechanics quote there's something eerie about knowing there are 2000 or 3000 foot mountains around you and you're flying between them at 200 feet the plane fits a crew of four including the aircraft commander co-pilot and two weapon system officers its main computer is the ibm ap101 which can also be found on the space shuttle orbiter and the b-52 the bone also has high survivability thanks in part to a low radar cross section this makes the bone as nearly undetectable as a small stealth aircraft [Music] built as a replacement for the b-52 both aircraft are now ironically good at the same things both can fly long distances and carry many bombs yet the b-1 is able to deliver them while being only moderately conspicuous on radars operational history the star of abilene was the first operational b-1b in the air force it was delivered to the strategic air command in june 1985 and one year later it was placed on nuclear alert status that particular plane was retired after almost 18 years of service it's currently displayed at ds air force base abilene texas by late 1990 the plane was ready to enter combat during operation desert storm but several issues with the engines including fires and two bombers kept the lancer on the ground b1s could carry the 500 pound unguided mk 82 bomb but the fleet was reserved for strategic nuclear strike missions the bomber finally entered combat as part of the 28th air expeditionary group in operation desert fox in december of 1998 in their combat debut two b-1bs were joined by navy escorts while they crossed the iraqi border lieutenant colonel gordon greeny was aware of three surface-to-air missiles that could detect them during their path but he recalled failure was not an option that night once the pilots reached their targets they dropped dozens of unguarded bombs 500 pound missiles known as dumb bombs one day later the pilots were told they had successfully completed the b1b's first mission lieutenant colonel john martin 28th operations group deputy commander said that the bomber's very first mission was surreal for those involved quote at the time it was tough to grasp the importance of that mission we just cranked the jets blasted off bared our fangs and put steel on target like we'd trained to do so many times during this four-day campaign over iraq the plane was used for striking republican guard targets it also caught two k-12 cop missiles with towed decoys the campaign ended with 97 hit targets and 600 bombs dropped one year later the bomber drawn to operation allied forces which consisted of the north atlantic treaty organization's bombing over yugoslavia six b1bs were used to drop around 20 of the total ordinance even though they only led around two percent of the campaign's combat sorties the plane's crew counted at least 20 surface-to-air missiles launched against them but no b-1b was lost however there was ample criticism at the time because the bomber was deployed after the b-52 an older plane that was supposedly in the process of being replaced however both aircraft coexist for now and the b52 platform is being further upgraded with new engines during the following years the b1b participated in operation enduring freedom it dropped around 40 of the bombs sent on the campaign including 3 900 j dams the aircraft also stood out for its speed as it could reach mach 1.2 and reach a target before any other plane as major coyote laney told popular mechanics quote the acceleration just keeps on coming you can go right through the sound barrier pretty quick nowadays the bomber is incapable of surviving modern air defenses and needs to use standoff weapons to fight other aircraft however it's kept on impressing the air force on july 8 2017 two b-1 lances were flown to north korea's border to display force amid tensions between both countries in april of 2018 it was armed with 19 stealth jazz m cruise missiles fired during a raid in syria the bone also holds 61 world records for speed payload range and time climb in 1994 2b1s were recognized for completing one of the 10 most memorable record flights after dashing non-stop and unfueled in a 6200 mile path across the united states nearing the end the plane isn't done making it to newspaper's headlines in april 2020 a b-1b lander joined a group of 15 japanese fighter jets on a sortie from the united states to japan according to the air force the flight showcased its strategic predictability and operational unpredictability during the global pandemic the production of b1s finished in the late 1980s and only 62 of them still exist less than 10 were still fully misincapable by the year 2019 many of its components especially some electronics are no longer made to modernize and keep the b1 and its sibling the b2 functional until the year 2050 would require an estimate of 38.5 billion dollars in the last few years the air force has also found it increasingly difficult to keep up with its bomber enterprises cost this is because the b1 has a rate of 74 maintenance man-hours per flying hour which is far above other bombers in consequence the lower readiness rate of the plane is fifty percent it also has an average cost of seventy thousand dollars per flying hour this amount weighs heavily on the department of defense's yearly budget [Music] the air force plans to retire the b1 in 2036 four years earlier than initially expected this will allow the air force to keep operating the b-52s which will have an operational history of over 90 years and bring on the new b-21 aircraft you

Channel: Dark Skies

Views: 713,873

Keywords: b-1, lancer, aviation, aircraft, airplane, bomber, rockwell b-1 lancer, b-1 lancer, usaf, air force, b-1b, planes, united states air force, b1, us air force, military aircraft, taiwan, china, dark docs, darkdocs, dark skies, jet, documentary, cold war, flight, history, usa, documentaries, history channel, fly, technology, airplanes, jets, explainer, defence, history channel documentary, docu, aerospace, darkskies, military operation

Id: T5MiHms8Vcw

Length: 10min 25sec (625 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 06 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Best aircraft ever. I miss it.