B-1B as the "Trishkin Kaftan" of the American Air Force
What's going on in these United States? The complete impression is that the fuses in the heads are burning in bunches. Throughout the week, everyone was unanimously discussing the news that the Russian Nizhny Novgorod Sokol plant had handed over to the Aerospace Forces a batch of overhauled and modernized MiG-31BMs.
There were quite controversial statements regarding the obsolescence, old age of the interceptor, that there were no targets for it (this was especially funny, because for the MiG-31 everything that flies is food) and so on.
What about at that time?
And the Americans themselves are dragging back from a place called the “Bone Yards” (aka the Davis-Monthan storage base in Tucson, Arizona) B-1B Lancer bombers that were placed there “for long-term storage.”
In general, everyone knows what this term means. And where can the planes go from this “storage”. But under the hot Arizona sun, they stand calmly in the desert on the sand and hardly even rust. The desert is still...
So, the famous American aviation photographer Kayden Smith recently photographed a B-1B bearing the proper name "Rage", serial number 86-0115, flying over Davis-Monthan AFB. Well, to top off this most interesting moment, Smith found out that there, in the “Bone Yards,” today there are only two B-1B aircraft left suitable for operational restoration.
It turns out that despite the fact that the B-1B seems to have been completely and irrevocably written off, not to mention from airfields, but, no, it’s alive, a smoking room, and aircraft sent to the scrapyard, for completely inexplicable reasons, are removed from there and restored to flying condition. condition.
In general, in February 2021, the US Air Force announced the retirement of 17 B-1Bs, leaving 45 aircraft in service. Four of them will be stored in a condition that allows them to return to service if necessary, which, in fact, is what happened.
Of the 13 remaining, four more were distributed to various institutions such as the National Institute of Aeronautical Research (NIAR) for various studies. There are nine left, whose fate is also not entirely clear.
Especially considering that 2036, when the B-1B's service in the US Air Force will end, is still quite a long way off.
What a strong plane it turned out to be! Three years in the boneyards landfill is no joke! And after such a “vacation”, the Lancer flew off as if nothing had happened. This generally says a lot, first of all, that in those years the USA knew how to build “long-lasting” aircraft.
I can’t resist being caustic, but with what pleasure I would look at an attempt to start an F-22 after a couple of years of such “storage”. I think the positive emotions would be off the charts.
In general, the experiment showed that the B-1B can be restored after a landfill. And here it is worth answering the question “Why?”
To begin with, this aircraft was one of four B-1Bs placed in what is known as Type 2000 (recoverable) storage. That is, practically it is a reserve. In fact, the aircraft are even maintained in a manner that makes it easier and faster for them to return to service should the need arise due to any potential future combat losses or accidents.
Type 2000 is head and shoulders above Type 1000 (“undisturbed storage”), which prohibits the removal of any part of the aircraft by separating it. When stored like 1000, aircraft can also be revived, but this will actually take months. Well, the result will not be as combat-ready as a type 2000 aircraft. But the possibility exists.
It is understood that the B-1B "Rage" was pulled out of storage and recovered to replace another aircraft of the same type that crashed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, in January of this year.
The remains of a B-1B after the plane skidded off the runway at Ellsworth, in satellite imagery from January 6, 2024
Here, to be honest, we should remember the article about the decommissioning of the F-22. There, the confrontation between the Air Force, which dreams of getting rid of aircraft junk, both flying and not so flying, and the US Congress, which is responsible for the security of the country as a whole, was described quite normally.
When the hot guys from the Air Force hinted that it would be nice to retire the old B-1, but still the youngest of the 1988 Lancers, the idea was not very well received in Congress. It was in 2021, and as if everything was already clear with the B-2 and B-52, but not with the B-21.
So Congress, on the one hand, authorized the scrapping of 17 aircraft, but in the rank of law it was written that the Air Force is simply obliged to maintain them in combat-ready condition. fleet from 45 B-1B. Just in case.
And doing this is very difficult. The B-1B cannot be said to be a bad plane, just some kind of unlucky one. Also in 2021, the entire fleet of bombers of this type was grounded for four months due to a problem with the high-pressure fuel pump filter housing. To halve the fleet of long-range/strategic bombers for four months is very so-so.
Well, they fight slowly. Not many, out of 100 Lancers produced, 11 crashed in various plane crashes. Well 10%...
By the way, such a replacement is not the first time, if anything. In 2022, another B-1B was completely destroyed by an engine fire at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. And in order to replace it, the B-1B taken from storage with its own name “Lancelot” was restored in the same way. But the time it took for the Lancelot to enter service took the entire year of 2023, so it actually replaced the lost aircraft only in April 2024.
This is such efficiency.
In general, they say this is normal practice. The same B-52s are shuffled back and forth, choosing for service those that are still flying. Where do you think the B-2019 came from in 52, replacing the bomber that burned down in Guam three years earlier?
From "Bone Yards".
Here you can’t help but think about the real state of the American Air Force, especially in terms of strategic aviation.
But we have to pull. The B-21 will not appear tomorrow, especially in comparable quantities.
Therefore, despite the reduction of the B-1B fleet, they are not letting it go and are doing everything possible to ensure that these aircraft continue to remain in service. This, of course, is commendable, but it would be interesting to know the feelings of pilots who sit at the controls of aircraft that have been sitting at a storage base for several years.
Moreover, the B-1B's mission set has also shifted to long-range strikes. Previously, the aircraft was seen as a means of close air strike support for operations, including counterinsurgency operations during the global the war with terror. Now the emphasis is shifting to a "real" war with long flights (naturally, over the Pacific Ocean). This will look like extremely long sorties that can last almost 40 hours. That is, the B-1B will have to take on the tasks that the Air Force expects to carry out with its new B-21.
But, in fact, the B-1B is very, very suitable for just such a war: speed, range and payload are three important components of success. Plus, no one will discount the possibility of operating hypersonic missiles if they do appear in service with the US Air Force.
But even today, the B-1B's ability to load a large number of stealth cruise missiles and carry them over long distances is already extremely relevant for a potential war in the Pacific against China. And the ability to use long-range anti-ship missiles (LRASM) makes the B-1B a relevant fighter against enemy naval units. And from long distances.
With that in mind, the B-1B fleet, including the Rage, will continue to be put to good use until it eventually faces permanent retirement, which it won't face much of. I repeat, the B-21 armadas are there, in the future, and no one will cancel the Congressional order about 45 bombers.
However, Americans have something to think about: two of the four reserve aircraft have already been restored back to the relatively small fleet.
However, if you dig through the trash, you can get more. “Bone Yards” - there is a lot of things there, for every taste and income.
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