The B-1B Lancer Bomber Is Now In 'Ride or Die' Mode
The U.S. Air Force’s B-1B Lancer, initially designed as a nuclear bomber, has been a critical asset in conventional warfare, particularly in Afghanistan. With the B-21 Raider’s complex and costly production moving slowly, the Air Force is extending the B-1B’s operational life with upgrades to communications and weapons systems, including adaptations for modern weaponry like the GBU-72/B bunker-buster bomb.
What You Need to Know: The U.S. Air Force’s B-1B Lancer, initially designed as a nuclear bomber, has been a critical asset in conventional warfare, particularly in Afghanistan. With the B-21 Raider’s complex and costly production moving slowly, the Air Force is extending the B-1B’s operational life with upgrades to communications and weapons systems, including adaptations for modern weaponry like the GBU-72/B bunker-buster bomb.
-This proven platform’s capability to bridge potential gaps is invaluable, especially as strategic challenges mount.
-The Air Force’s commitment to maintaining the B-1B fleet reflects its role in ensuring readiness against great power threats, with retirement now projected for 2036.
The Air Force is Right to Keep the B-1B Lancers Flying
The United States Air Force’s B-1B Lancer long-range strategic bomber is a workhorse of the US military’s air fleet. Designed originally to drop nuclear bombs on Soviet targets in the Cold War, the birds were retooled to be conventional strike platforms.
Despite the changed mission parameters, the Lancers were set to be retired until the Global War on Terror erupted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
At that point, the Lancers became the tip of America’s spear, notably in Afghanistan.
Now, the Air Force is committed to building the B-21 Raider as their next long-range stealth bomb.
They’re incredible birds.
But they are also wildly expensive, highly complex, and therefore, take time to build. In the meantime, the Air Force cannot allow for critical capabilities gaps to occur.
And the Pentagon cannot spend the kind of money they want to spend to mass produce enough B-21s in the short term to make up for the loss of the B-1B Lancers, should they be retired anytime soon (not to mention the fact that America’s ailing defense industrial base cannot handle producing large numbers of the advanced B-21 consistently).
The Pentagon Has Chosen to Upgrade Rather Than Retire
So, the Air Force is upgrading the existing fleet of B-1B bombers. The plan now is to retire all the B-1s by 2036. Yet, there are many analysts—including this author—who believe that no retirement date should be set.
After all, the B-21 Raider is unlikely to ever be mass produced to the level that is needed because of the aforementioned production woes and funding problems.
To make the B-1B more updated, the Air Force is upgrading the bird’s communications and weapons. What’s more, they are making the B-1B able to be adapted to newer weapon systems that might be created over the remaining course of its lifespan.
Some modernizations of the B-1B platform include being able to deploy the GBU-72/B bunker-buster bomb.
B-1B Lancer: A Proven Platform
In fact, the Air Force is so desperate to keep the Lancers flying that they’re even pulling some units out of mothballs from the infamous boneyard. The birds from the boneyard are being regenerated at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz.
The Air Force shouldn’t have retired any of these birds and should be fighting to keep them in top fighting form. This bird has proven itself across multiple conflicts—notably the GWoT.
And should a great power erupt soon, then it will be all hands on deck. The B-21 Raider, even if it gets a full production order like the Air Force wants, will be unprepared for when the fighting starts. It will be the B-1B Lancer that will do the heavy lifting.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert, Defense Expert
Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock.
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