North American Rockwell / Boeing B-1 Lancer

FighterJock said:
Going by the size of the B-2s weapons bays then the bay on the B-21 should be the same size, Northrop would not design the B-21 with a smaller bay than the B-2 even when it is only one considering the size of the GBU-57. The USAF would not have given Northrop the contract otherwise.
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In fact if anything, the B-21's bay seems slightly longer, which might be fed by the requirement to carry LRSO. There is no doubt that the bay has sufficient volume; the only question is payload. I find it hard to believe that the B-21 cannot carry 30,000lbs. If we assume LRSO is in the same size and weight class as AGM-86, that is already 25,000lbs plus the weight of the rotary. It is hard to imagine 30,000 would be difficult.
 
So the LRSO might be slightly longer than the ALCM so that the B-21s weapons bay is going to be longer than the B-2s though not by much, it will be interesting to see when all the figures for the B-21 get de-classified eventually.
 
FighterJock said:
So the LRSO might be slightly longer than the ALCM so that the B-21s weapons bay is going to be longer than the B-2s though not by much, it will be interesting to see when all the figures for the B-21 get de-classified eventually.
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I have no idea what the LRSO's dimensions will be but I believe it has a hard range requirement of meeting or exceeding the AGM-86. So I suspect it is the same weight/size class. The B-2's were never cleared to handle AGM-86 and it is not clear that their bay/rotary is long enough to accommodate such, however we do know that the B-21 is explicitly designed to carry LRSO as a fall back position to its stealth being compromised over its service life. I suspect the B-21 bay is, if anything, slightly longer, but no figures have been released. In any case, the bay is certainly long enough for GBU-57.
 
Christopher Wang said:
If that is true, can anyone provide citations, pictures, and documents about the B-1 Lancer carrying the AIM-54 Phoenix?

I assume that the AIM-54 Phoenix carried by the B-1 Lancer would have featured folding fins for internal carriage similar to the AIM-47B Falcon proposed for the Lockheed F-12B?
AIM-47AB-1S.jpg

SOURCE: O'Connor, S. (2011, June). Arming America's Interceptors: The Hughes Falcon Missile Family. Air Power Australia. Retrieved from https://www.ausairpower.net/Falcon-Evolution.html
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From Don Logan & Jay Miller - Aerofax - Minigraph 24 B-1A-B
Several early B-1 studies have recently come to light, though little has been revealed concerning them. B-1C, B-1D, and B-1E designators have apparently been applied to some of these, though only the B-1E has been defined. The B-1E was optimized for use by the Navy, and was essentially an escort configuration capable of carrying a very large number of Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles.
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The B-1E was optimized for use by the Navy, and was essentially an escort configuration capable of carrying a very large number of Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles.
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Dale Brown eat your heart out!

I'm guessing 24x Phoenix internally, plus however many more they could hang on the external pylons.
 
5/8 mile vis, 100ft ceiling (1km and 30m)?!? eeeeeeeeewwwwwwww...

That's nasty weather to be in. Not bumpy, necessarily, but not anything you'd want to fly in commercially. (IIRC, commercial minimum ceiling is 500ft/150m) And the winds basically changing 180deg on landing doesn't help.

I see a whole lot of people getting fired over this one... Like Wing CO, Squadron COs, IPs, Fox 3s... man, that's going to be bad.

The last time I read a report that scathing was when Naval Reactors Himself got sent to Japan to figure out WTF there were 2 collisions with Navy fatalities in 2017. (My comment about that was, "Flag Yeoman, bring me my mudhole-stomping boots, because I am going to stomp mudholes in as many asses as it takes!!!")
 
LAM pylon flight testing begins：

www.edwards.af.mil

Can one size fit all? Edwards demonstrates new modular pylon

The 412th Test Wing recently tested a new weapons pylon that could remove traditional weapon constraints. Known as the Load Adaptable Modular Pylon, the equipment recently flew attached to a B-1B test
www.edwards.af.mil

www.dvidshub.net

Can one size fit all? Edwards demonstrates new modular pylon

The 412th Test Wing recently tested a new weapons pylon that could remove traditional weapon constraints. Known as the Load Adaptable Modular Pylon, the equipment recently flew attached to a B-1B test aircraft with the 419th Flight Test Squadron. (Air Force video by Giancarlo Casem)
www.dvidshub.net www.dvidshub.net
 

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raptor82 said:
LAM pylon flight testing begins：

www.edwards.af.mil

Can one size fit all? Edwards demonstrates new modular pylon

The 412th Test Wing recently tested a new weapons pylon that could remove traditional weapon constraints. Known as the Load Adaptable Modular Pylon, the equipment recently flew attached to a B-1B test
www.edwards.af.mil

www.dvidshub.net

Can one size fit all? Edwards demonstrates new modular pylon

The 412th Test Wing recently tested a new weapons pylon that could remove traditional weapon constraints. Known as the Load Adaptable Modular Pylon, the equipment recently flew attached to a B-1B test aircraft with the 419th Flight Test Squadron. (Air Force video by Giancarlo Casem)
www.dvidshub.net www.dvidshub.net
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Saw a similar pic a while back.

theaviationist.com

B-1B Bomber Spotted For The First Time Carrying New Bunker Buster Bomb Externally

Photos show the B-1 carrying a large bomb on the forward right hard point. And it looks like it's GBU-72/B, the new 5,000 pound "Bunker Buster". A U.S.
theaviationist.com theaviationist.com

B-1B_Lancer_bomb-2.jpg
 
Defense Updates has just put out a video about a demonstration flight by to B-1Bs flying from the US to Japan in an obvious message to the PRC and Russia:


The United States showcased deterrence capabilities to main rivals China and Russia last week by sending two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers to Japan on a 12,456-mile or 20,045 km non-stop round-trip flight.
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Lancers executed the CONUS-to-CONUS [Continental United States] mission, or Bomber C2C mission from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on Aug 1-2, 2024The mission began on August 1 and ended the next day and lasted for more than 31 hours.The Lancers were partially tracked by open-source air traffic control communication and flight data. They conducted aerial refueling over Canada's Vancouver Island during the outbound flight and were supported by aerial refueling tankers near Alaska for the inbound flight to their home base.During the mission, the bombers were refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker.
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In this video, Defense Updates analyzes how B-1B flexed muscle near China & Russia with non-stop flight ?
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#defenseupdates #usvsrussia #usvschina
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Chapters:
00:11 INTRODUCTION
02:11 THE MISSION
03:17 BACKGROUND
04:39 B1-B OVERVIEW
07:27 ANALYSIS
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That’s weird; I thought the B-1s had altitude and hour limitations on their training to preserve the airframes.
 
Defense Updates has a new video out about how the B-1B could help in countering the PRC:


South Korean and U.S. F-35s joined a small group of combat aircraft from both countries for “joint precision strike” training missions.
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The US Pacific Air Forces Command or PACAF stated, “Three U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 51st FW; four ROK Air Force F-35A from the 17th FW, Cheongju Air Base ROK; and four Marine F-35Bs from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, joined the bombers for simulated precision strike and air interdiction training, validating the two nations’ combined ability to conduct strikes and operated together in a contested environment,”
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The bomber aircraft in this drill was the B-1B Lancer and this move comes at a time when a portion of these are being relocated to Guam.
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In this video, Defense Updates analyzes how the B-1B bomber is set to play a crucial role in countering China?
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#defenseupdates #b1blancer #usvschina
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Chapters:
0:00 TITLE
00:11 INTRODUCTION
01:58 KEY EXERCISE with an ALLY
02:47 THE RELOCATION in GUAM
04:25 B-1B OVERVIEW
06:28 ANALYSIS
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Josh_TN said:
That’s weird; I thought the B-1s had altitude and hour limitations on their training to preserve the airframes.
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Just because limitations exist doesn't mean you can't do the training. You "just" need to condense the training into as few hours as possible. Which is about as fun as it sounds on the planning end. And can really really suck on the doing end.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Just because limitations exist doesn't mean you can't do the training. You "just" need to condense the training into as few hours as possible. Which is about as fun as it sounds on the planning end. And can really really suck on the doing end.
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I had thought all low altitude training had ended.
 
Josh_TN said:
That’s weird; I thought the B-1s had altitude and hour limitations on their training to preserve the airframes.
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They are restricted, Sack and Voodoo are both "old guys", I knew both of them well when I was at Dyess '02-05. Voodoo was the ADO of the 9th and Sack was my vice then wing commander. The restrictions hit long after both retired. They're real good guys
 
Funniest thing, one of my colleagues is a fellow B-1 initial cadre and was in town today. First thing we talked about was that video, which then led to an invite to the 40th anniversary celebration. LOL, feels like yesterday that I was at the 20th in my mess dress...
 
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