Key Points and Summary: The B-1B Lancer, despite being over 30 years old, has undergone significant upgrades to maintain relevance and effectiveness. It remains essential due to the Air Force’s “bomber deficit,” serving extensively in global deterrence and combat operations.
Key Point #1 – Recent enhancements include modern avionics, refurbished engines, upgraded communication systems, and increased weapons capacity—from 24 internal weapons to 40, including future hypersonic missiles.
A B-1B Lancer bomber assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., waits to be guided into a parking spot after returning to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, from a bomber task force mission, June 8, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Nicholas Priest.
Key Point #2 – This overhaul extends the bomber’s life until sufficient B-21 Raiders enter service. Capable of MACH 1.25, the B-1B Lancer continues to evolve, showcasing remarkable adaptability and playing a critical role in America’s strategic deterrence, ensuring it remains formidable well into the future.
B1-B Lancer Upgrades: America’s 30-Year-Old Bomber Still Packs a Punch
The famous B-1B Lancer bomber may be over 30 years old. Yet, the classic platform has surged into future decades with many evolving attributes, including new avionics, communications technologies, engines, and even hypersonic bomb attack capacity.
While a legacy platform heading toward eventual retirement and “end-of-service,” the B-1B Lancer 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 globally, leading 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 more significant numbers of B-21s arrive.
The overall approach is grounded mainly upon the recognition that airframes 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.
B-1B Lancer WorkHorse
The Air Force’s B-1B Lancer 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 Lancer has surged into continued service as part of a key strategy to retain a viable and effective bomber fleet until more significant numbers of the new B-21 arrive in the fleet.
B-1B Bomber 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. The 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-1B Lancer 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 reconfigured the B-1B weapons bay to carry more weapons, increasing the B-1B’s magazine capacity from 24 internal weapons to 40.
A B-1B Lancer assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., takes off on the first day of Red Flag 16-2 Feb. 29, 2016, at Nellis AFB, Nev. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman First Class Keven Tanenbaum).
The adjustments to the bomb bay will also enable the B-1B to carry hypersonic weapons, something which significantly increases the aircraft’s lethality. The bomb bay itself has been massively reconfigured in anticipation of weapons that have yet to exist.
Accommodating larger hypersonic weapons into a B-1B bomb bay brings several strategic implications; it massively increases the target envelope and range and allows for longer mission “dwell” time over targets to sustain attacks.
A B-1B Lancer, tail number 86-0094, is moved across Douglas Blvd. to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Technology Center (MROTC) to receive an initial portion of Gate 1 of programmed depot maintenance April 21. 567th AMXS personnel will perform three days of maintenance which include single system checks on 40 individual actuators validating voltage outputs as
well as interrogating each actuator for hydraulic leaks. After single systems are completed, the horizontal stabilizers will be removed from the aircraft. This is the first time that horizontal stabilizers have ever been removed at the MROTC. Once complete, the aircraft and horizontal stabilizers will be brought back across Douglas to the 569th AMXS strip facility for plastic media blasting. Once stripped, the horizontal stabilizers will be routed to the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group for overhaul and repairs. (U.S. Air Force photo/Kelly White)
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.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and 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.
