File:United States Air Force - B-1B Lancer bomber plane 13 (44199495132).jpg

(South Dakota Air and Space Museum collection, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA)

From exhibit signage:

B-1B Lancer

Top Speed - 950 miles per hour Crew - 4 Range - Intercontinental Payload - 75,000 pounds of guided and unguided munitions

A Bomber for the 21st Century

Designed and built to fight a Cold War enemy, the B-1 bomber and its crews adapted to the threat of international terrorism. Features that made the B-1 effective against the Soviet Union are now used to directly support ground troops and to target hidden and scattered terrorist groups. Simply put, airmen in the "Bone" can get to any place in the world, bring a huge quantity and variety of weapons, and destroy their targets with near perfect accuracy.

The 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base is home to two of the nation's three combat B-1 squadrons.

After 9/11, B-1s deployed to the island of Diego Garcia. From there, they bombed targets in Afghanistan.

Loaded with Features

The most visible B-1 technology is its variable-sweep wings, which can almost double its wingspan for greater lift. The "Bone" can fly on auto-pilot at a constant height above changing terrain. It has features that deceive radar. And of course, it carries the largest load of bombs in the Air Force today.

A B-1 can carry 24 GBU-31 guided bombs, each of which weighs 2,000 pounds.

Operation Odyssey Dawn

In March 2011, under blizzard conditions, the call came: could the 28th Bomb Wing be ready for action in Libya, in less than two days? Despite freezing metal and icy pavement, airmen began working around the clock. Experts in electronics, engines, and life support systems applied their skills. Munition teams built 145 weapons in 20 hours. Logistics specialists delivered parts from the warehouse to the flightline. Weather forecasters and intelligence analysts, lawyers, and chaplains lined up to brief the crews. From this enormous effort, aircrews launched the first B-1 combat mission ever flown from the continental United States. They returned 72 hours and two bombing missions later, exhausted, having hit nearly 100 targets with 98% accuracy.

"It's hard to overstate how important the ground support teams were to our success." - Lead aircraft weapons systems officer

Mission crews launched in heavy fog with terrible visibility for their long journey to North Africa.

Cold metal made it hard for maintainers to work quickly.

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