Article Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Air Force has temporarily moved its B-1B Lancer bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, due to runway construction at Ellsworth, preparing the base for the B-21 Raider.
Key Point #1 – This deployment, known as Bomber Task Force (BTF-25-1), includes strategic missions to the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China and North Korea. Despite its age, the B-1B remains critical for its large payload and stand-off weapons capability.
Key Point #2 – The B-21 Raider is expected to eventually replace the aging bomber fleet, but until then, the B-1 remains an essential military asset.
Why the U.S. Air Force Just Moved Its B-1B Lancer Bombers to Guam
According to the Strategic Command, the United States Air Force has mobilized part of its B-1B Lancer bomber force and moved them from their home base of Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB), South Dakota, to Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, and Andersen AFB, Guam, as part of a Bomber Task Force deployment.
The temporary relocation is necessary to complete a runway construction project related to the future home of the B-21 Raider. The last 17 B-1Bs departed on January 25, 2025, marking the first time in 30 years that the Ellsworth AFB flightline was empty of the B-1Bs.
The temporary relocation and 800 airmen are expected to last about 10 months, but Grand Forks was once home to the B-1B from 1987 until 1994, so it is a sort of welcome home for the Lancers.
Meanwhile, construction at Ellsworth is underway to prepare the base for the B-1 B’s replacement. Ellsworth AFB will complete a runway construction projection as the next part of the base’s preparations for its arrival.
“The runway construction at Ellsworth AFB is a key milestone in ensuring we’re ready to receive the B-21 Raider,” said Col. Derek Oakley, 28th Bomber Wing commander. “This project illustrates the U.S. Air Force’s commitment to our nation’s newest long-range strike bomber and the surrounding community.”
The Air Force announced plans for the temporary move in August, contingent on a final environmental assessment and legal review. The 319th Reconnaissance Wing, the host unit at Grand Forks, confirmed the final basing decision on December 2. A spokesperson said that, depending on weather conditions, the first two bombers are set to arrive that week.
“The mighty B-1 has been around for over 40 years, and the foundational mission remains the same: win today, dominate tomorrow,” said Major Andrew Feigen, commander of the 37th Bomber Generation Squadron.
The B-21 Raider was officially unveiled in December 2022 and is currently in low-rate initial production (LRIP) after making its maiden flight last November. U.S. Air Force officials say the B-21 Raider is a “dual nuclear and conventionally capable, stealth, penetrating, long-range strike platform.” The B-21 will replace the aging B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit in the coming decade.
The B-1B Lancer Deployment To Guam Is Strategic in Nature
The Bomber Task Force’s temporary duty in Guam was not a tiny move, despite only sending four aircraft to US territory. While most crewmen are dealing with the harsh winter of North Dakota, which is half a world away, the weather and situation are much hotter in Guam.
The deployment comes amid elevated tensions in the Indo-Pacific with China and North Korea. Russia, given its shared contiguous maritime zone in its far east, has conducted increasingly aggressive and comprehensive naval and aerial drills with its ally of convenience, Beijing, and direct defense industrial and “military technological” cooperation with North Korea.
This deployment, called BTF-25-1, supports Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts with Allies, partners, and joint forces and strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region. It isn’t clear how long this deployment will last.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense announced that at least one of the B-1Bs participated in joint training with Korean Air Force F-35s, F-15s, and US F-16s. The mission, the first since President Trump began his second administration, was in response to North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
However, not only the bombers deploy. When B-1 Lancers are sent overseas, they require massive spares and maintenance equipment support. This requires several C-17 Globemaster IIIs from the various mobility wings, flown to Andersen AFB during the deployment.
The B1-B Is The Workhorse For USAF Until The B-21 Raider Is Ready
The B-1B Lancer is the backbone of the US Air Force’s long-range bomber force. The supersonic B-1B Lancer can carry the largest conventional payload of guided and unguided weapons in the Air Force inventory.
The B-1B has synthetic aperture radar which allows it to track moving targets. The airplane has electronic warfare capabilities that can jam incoming enemy aircraft and chaff and flares that confuse enemy radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles.
However, the venerable B-1Bs were designed for a different type of war, during the Cold War, and they lack stealth technology. Our adversaries in the Indo-Pacific have sophisticated air defense systems, and the Lancers would probably not fare well against them.
The airframes are reaching the end of their operational lives and will need close monitoring. But despite these concerns, the Lancers will be required until the B-21 force is fully up to speed. As these deployments show, the B-1s are still a force to be reckoned with.
B-1B Lancer Bomber History
The B-1 bomber was officially named the Lancer, but the pilots call it the “Bone,” taken from the spelling B-one.
The B-1 Lancer was first developed in the 1970s as a supersonic replacement for the B-52 Stratofortress. The original design could fly at Mach 2.2 (1,688 mph) speeds. However, President Carter cut the program in 1977 due to its high cost, the introduction of the AGM-86 cruise missile that flew the same basic speed and distance, and the development of the B-2 stealth bomber.
Carter said, “The B-1 bomber is an example of a proposed system which should not be funded and would be wasteful of taxpayers’ dollars.”
However, President Reagan, faced the same question as Carter, develop the B-1 for the short term or wait for the B-2 stealth bomber. He decided to keep both.
Reagan restarted the program in 1981, and some changes were made. The payload was increased to 74,000 pounds, an improved radar and reduction of the radar cross-section, and the inlets were decreased in size, which lowered the top speed to Mach 1.2 (920 mph).
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer attached to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, prepares to park as the sun sets at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, June 8, 2022. Bomber Task Force missions strengthen the collective ability of the U.S. and our allies and partners to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Chris Hibben)
The first B-1B bomber, “The Star of Abilene”, was delivered in 1985. By 1988, all 100 orders had been delivered, and production had stopped. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the signing of the START nuclear arms treaty with Russia.
President George H.W. Bush ordered the $3 billion refit so that the B-1B eliminated the ability to carry nuclear weapons. The B-1B Lancer was now only a conventional bomber. But early usage of the 40 conventional bomb-carrying variants had issues with engine fires. Therefore, the B-1Bs were held out of Desert Storm and the B-52s were used instead.
In its conventional strike role, the B-1B was first used in combat in Iraq in Operation Desert Fox in 1998 and has been used there and in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, B-1Bs were used in Syria.
During the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom, eight B-1s dropped almost 40 percent of aerial ordnance, including some 3,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).
JDAM munitions were heavily used by the B-1 over Iraq, notably on April 7, 2003, in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein and his two sons. During Operation Enduring Freedom, the B-1 was able to raise its mission capable rate to 79 percent.
During a six-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2012, the Air Force kept a B-1B in the air at all times, accounting for a quarter of all air sorties during that time, and averaged two to three missions per day, supporting the ground troops.
U.S. Air Force maintainers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, work 24/7 servicing and inspecting the B-1B Lancer. They are maintainers within the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing’s 34th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit (nicknamed “the backbone of the bone”) and provide hundreds of thousands of manpower hours during six month deployments to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Maintainers comprise approximately a dozen different career specialties to ensure the aircraft flies and meets mission throughout the Middle East. The Lancer carries the largest conventional payload of guided and unguided weapons in the Air Force inventory.
B-1Bs were used in Syria during the US/Kurdish operations to remove the Islamic State (ISIS), during the Syrian Civil War.
After a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US troops, the U.S. deployed two B-1Bs to strike 85 terrorist targets in seven locations in Iraq and Syria as part of a multi-tiered response on February 2, 2024.
The Air Force plans to keep the B-1Bs in service until 2038, when the B-21 Raider stealth bomber should be fielded entirely.
Maintenance Is Expensive
The B-1B Lancer is an expensive plane to keep in the air. However, the B-1 Lancer’s $63,000 cost per flight hour is less than the $72,000 for the B-52 and the $135,000 for the B-2 stealth bomber. A typical 12-hour flight costs nearly a million dollars worth of maintenance and repairs.
The “Bone” Still A Critical Piece Of US Bomber Fleet
“The Bone” remains a critical asset in the U.S. Air Force’s bomber force, along with the B-52 Stratofortress and the B-2 Spirit, and can carry massive conventional payloads and conduct long-range strike missions.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. to Andersen AFB, Guam, flies a training mission over the Pacific Ocean Aug. 16, 2017. During the mission two B-1s were joined by Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-15s in the vicinity of the Sankaku Islands. These training flights with Japan demonstrate the solidarity and resolve we share with our allies to preserve peace and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joshua Smoot)
The Bomber Task Force in Guam further signals America’s commitment to strategic deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region, where tensions continue to rise over Chinese military activity.
While it lacks the stealth quality to make it an ideal penetrator of enemy (Russia, China, North Korea, and Iranian) airspace, it is still a bomber that, due to its massive bomb-carrying capability, must be accounted for by our enemies.
And with the capability to launch long-range stand-off weapons, it can target naval ships while patrolling large swaths of the Pacific Ocean, which due to its long range, it is fully capable of.
Air Force Rockwell B-1B Lancer 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW) 37th Bomb Squadron Ellsworth Air Force Base – Rapid City, South Dakota
The US needs the B-21 Raider to penetrate and be invisible on radar of our enemies. But until that time, hopefully we’ll start seeing the B-21s by 2026, then our triad of tried and true bombers will have to suffice.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
