America’s B-1 bomber teaches Iran a firepower lesson

 On Friday, strikes by US Air Force B-1 bombers hit 85 target points on four Iran proxy militia target areas in Syria and three in Iraq. And he started it in Texas.

The White House has promised a multi-pronged campaign against the militias backed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. So far, President Biden and his team are relying on airpower to contain and punish Iran's proxies.

But let me assure you that Friday's attacks were just a sample of what the B-1 can do.

For the B-1 crew flying Friday, those areas of Syria and Iraq are like their backyard. The B-1 has flown combat missions for Central Command for years, attacking designated targets, destroying chemical weapons sites, and flying over friendly ground forces for hours at a time, destroying ISIS insurgents one precision at a time. The bomb is targeted.

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B-1s have the largest payload of any American bomber. Heck, each B-1 can carry 42,000 pounds of precise, individually targeted munitions. This means that IRGC safe houses and weapons routes in Syria and Iraq could be converted into a view of the moon. Think about it, Ismail Ghani.

The sleek and supersonic B-1 bomber was canceled by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. President Ronald Reagan brought it back in 1981, and built 100 B-1 bombers in California.

According to the 1982 rock song by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, this airplane is bad, bad to the b-b-b-bones. Literally. The B-1B bomber is officially named the Lancer, but is affectionately known as the B-One or "Bone".

Simply put, this is the sleekest bomber ever. It's not a stealth design like the B-2 Spirit or the new B-21 Raider, but the B-1 simply shows speed. Four General Electric F101 dual-rotor, afterburning turbofan engines push the B-1 to a maximum speed of Mach 1.2, or about 900 mph.

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Cool Fact: The B-1's variable-sweep wings move during flight. The wings are angled forward at a 15 degree angle to the fuselage for take-off and landing. Sweep the wings back to an angle of 67 degrees, and the lift efficiency allows the B-1 to go faster than the speed of sound at low or high altitudes.

In the Cold War, the B-1 was designed to infiltrate Soviet Russian airspace at extremely low levels, covering terrain to conceal its target approach during combat. Crews trained for missions at night, in weather, in the mountains. Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Miller, a former B-1 pilot, told me that, going nine miles per minute at an altitude of 400 feet or less, "there's a lot of blur when you look out the side window. Is."

Today the B-1s fly at higher altitudes for combat so they can deploy sophisticated precision weapons. And they fly really long missions. Like from Texas to Syria and back.

B-1 missions from Texas were part of the combat routine. Still, it's no fun sitting in the ejection seat for 30 hours. The four B-1 crew members – two pilots, and two combat systems officers who juggle electronic warfare – help manage fatigue.

"Power naps, pay attention to nutrition and don't have too much caffeine. You can take 24-20 hours and still feel pretty good," Miller said.

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Personally, I can't imagine a worldwide combat mission with limited coffee, but there is room to expand between the front and rear cockpit areas. Most comfortable position for a nap in B-1? The foam and vinyl engine inlet covers on top are always kept on long missions. And yes, there is a camp toilet in B-1.

In my opinion, last Friday's B-1 strikes were a clear reminder that the US can launch a sustained air campaign at any time.

Move B-1s to bases in theater and they attack Iranian ships at sea, hit air defense systems or other sensitive sites from long range with Joint Air to Surface Missiles (JASSM) and Joint Stand-Off Weapons (JSOW). Blow them up with weapons. ) and, above all, maintain pressure on rebel and militia terrorists from Syria to the Houthis in Yemen.

B-1 has done this before also. In August 2014, a B-1 was flying from Qatar on a mission over Afghanistan when the crew was reassigned to support Iraqi troops as Islamic State forces advanced within 30 miles of Baghdad. Had come inside.

The B-1 began flying 10-hour missions over the combat zone, launching precision munitions at ISIS rebels one by one and bombing fixed sites.

In early 2015, B-1s broke the siege of Kobani, a city on the Syria-Turkey border, by dropping more than 1,700 munitions in a few weeks of close air support for Kurdish troops. That fighting halted the advance of the so-called ISIS caliphate.

From 2014 to 2018 alone, US and coalition aircraft dropped more than 114,000 bombs.

Struggles with spare parts and costs have limited the B-1 fleet to a precious 45 aircraft. But there's a reason the Air Force retired 17 B-1s to keep others flying: China. In the Pacific, the B-1's supersonic speed could play a large role.

Right now, the Air Force is testing a new external wing pylon developed by Boeing that could enable the B-1 to carry larger, hypersonic missiles on its wings. The B-1 has already tested the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator and other precision munitions on the pylon. All this is very useful if China becomes aggressive.

Yes, that B-1 is bad for bone. This is not an aircraft Iran or China want to mess with.