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B-1 Lancer Rockwell

Of course everyone must now know that Rockwell became part of Boeing but the B-1 Lancer was the brain child of Rockwell. The Lancer was designed in the 60s to be a supersonic bomber to carry the payload of a B-52. She was to deliver at supersonic speed at high altitude long range bombing missions.

The B-1 Lancer Was Off to a Rocky Start

This was caused by all the delays in development over the years. The delays had to do with the changes in the theory of strategic balance in the world. First it was MAD (mutually assured destruction) the perfect acronym. Then the powers that be came to their senses and changed it back again. So the first B-1A never got off the drawing board until the early 70s. They built four prototypes only to have the production canceled. The B-1 seemingly forgotten came back to life again in the 80s. A new B-1B version of the bomber was built with the idea of (low level penetration bombing) in mind. The first B-1B lancer built for the Strategic Air Command of the USAF entered service in 1986 as the USAF nuclear bomber.

Later in the early 90s the Lancer began being used for conventional bombing. Her first combat service was seen in Operation (Desert Fox) then again as part of the NATO action in Kosovo. The B-1B Lancer today is getting heavy use in Afghanistan and formerly Iraq for both the U.S. and NATO. She is still the soul supersonic long range bomber of the USAF. The other two long range bombers the B-2 Spirit and the well known B-52 are subsonic.

The B-1B Lancer is referred to as the Bone short for B-One. The USAF retired the F-111 Raven in 98 and later the F-14 Tomcat in 06 making the B-1B the only supersonic variable sweep wing bomber. She is very likely to see many more years of service and will support the next generation of bomber as well.

More B-1B Lancer Background

In 1957 the B-70 Valkyrie was to replace the Boeing B-52s. The idea was that the Valkyrie was designed to fly at speeds of Mach 3 over 70,000 ft. It was a great idea to be able to stay away from interceptor enemy aircraft. At the time the Lockheed U-2 was avoiding the Soviet interceptors. But the plans changed when Gary Power’s was shot down with the new SAMs the (surface-to-air missiles).

The USAF strategy changed to low-level penetration with the idea that surface-to-air missiles were not effective at low altitude aircraft. The strategy also proved to be effective against the enemy high flying interceptors. Their radar picked up too much clutter from the ground to detect low flying aircraft.

Flying the B-70 at low altitudes meant subsonic speeds. This also proved to decrease range leaving the older B-52 as the better choice. At the time the threat was from ICBMs so President Kennedy canceled the B-70 program in 1961. There were two prototypes built of the B-70 called XB-70s that were only used for supersonic research.