It’s commonly called the “Bone”. A primarily low-level penetrator with a Mach 1.25 speed and a long range. The Rockwell B-1B Lancer bomber was first envisioned as a supersonic bomber with sufficient range and payload to replace the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Initially delayed by changes in technology, strategies, and enemy’s capabilities, the Bone was first conceptualized back in the 1960’s, quite a long time for any project to be able to survive. But the project not only survived but it also adapted into one of the United States Air Force’s main strategic bombers.
In addition to its long-range capability of more than 900 miles per hour carrying more than 75,000 pounds of munitions, the B-1B speed, flexibility, multitude of weapons, advanced sensors, modern defense avionics systems, and targeting pods, make it the ideal strategic bomber for the vast Pacific theater. Back in Guam in support of U.S. Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence mission after a 10-years hiatus, the Lancer brings an amount of combat experience that the Pacific hasn’t seen in their bombers in more than a decade.
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