B-1 Lancer manufacturer Boeing is investing in research to support a slate of potential upgrades that would enhance the platform's ability to perform an increasing load of close-air-support missions.
The bomber has in recent years taken on a greater portion of CAS missions, particularly as part of ongoing operations in the Middle East. According to Boeing's director of B-1 advanced programs, Dan Ruder, the platform is due for a series of upgrades to help support that broadening mission set. In an Aug. 11 interview, Ruder said the company is investing in enhancements to the B-1's helmet and weapons carriage options.
B-1 pilots and crewmembers currently operate with a standard helmet that does not feature a heads-up display or cueing system. Ruder said that as he talks to pilots returning from forward operating locations, he consistently hears of the challenges associated with pilots and weapon system operators trying to visualize a common target.
"They've run into issues where it has taken hours to try to talk a weapon system operator onto a particular spot of interest," Ruder said. "In some cases they haven't been able to talk them on at all, and of course with time-sensitive targets, that's just not acceptable."
That communication is especially difficult in terrain that lacks man-made objects or reference points, Ruder said.
To help address this problem, Boeing is working to develop a helmet-mounted cueing system (HMCS) that would attach to a B-1 pilot's helmet and allow them to pass coordinates of a particular target on the ground -- simply by looking at it -- to the weapon system operator. The company, with cooperation from Air Force Global Strike Command, has demonstrated the capability in a laboratory environment and is planning a ground demonstration at Dyess Air Force Base, TX, in October or November.
"In the lab environment, we had to simulate a lot of that so this will be the first time we actually do a demonstration with the real aircraft and the real targeting pod," he said.
Ruder said along with enhancing the passage of targeting information, the HMCS brings added visualization to a platform that is starting to run out of room for displays. The company has experimented with adding a capability to the HMCS which would project a virtual display into the helmet. He said this capability would have benefits not just for the pilot but for the rest of the crew.
"If that's something the Air Force thinks is a capability that would be beneficial, they could put virtual displays up into their helmet-mounted cueing system to give them more information or give them the information they need at that particular time," he said. "So we're going to demonstrate that as well."
Ruder noted that the helmet could also have benefits for B-52 crewmembers as that platform also performs close-air-support missions. He said the company doesn't have plans to demonstrate HMCS on the B-52, but he noted that the Air Force's decision to move the B-1 to Global Strike Command creates more opportunities for B-1 capabilities to transfer to other platforms and vice versa.
Boeing is investing its own independent research and development dollars in the effort, but Ruder said the company has had discussions about transitioning the system to a program of record should the service decide to move forward following the ground demonstration. Should the Air Force choose not to invest in the system right away, Ruder said Boeing would likely continue with some low-level investment but not with the same emphasis it has now.
The program has seen some success with transitioning internal research and development (IRAD) efforts like this into formal programs, Ruder said, and he cited the B-1's targeting pod as an example. When the company first started investigating the possibility of adding a targeting pod to the B-1, the Air Force didn't view the aircraft as a close-air-support platform. Still, Boeing decided to invest, expecting that there would be a future need for the capability. When the Air Force did decide to pull the trigger, the technology was available off the shelf.
"The Air Force is focused on fighting the current battle and here in industry, what we can do is sometimes we can look out and look at what we think future capabilities are or future needs would be," he said.
Another area of investment aimed at enhancing the B-1's CAS mission is expanded weapons carriage -- both to increase the number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions the bomber can carry and to integrate the Small Diameter Bomb onto the platform. Right now, the B-1 can carry 24 2,000-pound JDAMS and 15 500-pound JDAMS, both weapons that are typically used for CAS missions. The company in 2010 demonstrated what it calls a two-position multiple ejector rack that would allow the B-1 to carry 48 500-pound JDAMs. The new rack would not increase the B-1's carriage capacity but it would allow the platform flexibility in which weapons it carries.
For now, the capability is on the shelf ready to be used should the Air Force recognize a need for it.
The B-1 does not currently carry the Small Diameter Bomb, but Boeing is exploring integration on the B-1, which could carry 96 SDBs.
"There's already a multiple ejector rack developed for the Small Diameter Bomb, which is used on the fighters," Ruder said. "All we would have to do is integrate that onto our rotary launcher and of course do the software to interface with it."
Ruder said there have been some studies looking at the complexity of SDB integration and that there is some interest from the Air Force, but cost is a constraint.
"With the fiscal environment that we're in, they have their hands full just fighting the current fight and keeping the airplane sustained," he said. -- Courtney Albon