This Is One Awesome B-1B “Bone” Video Montage
The big swing-wing bomber has never looked so good.
One of our readers (who also happens to rocket around the sky in a B-1B Lancer for a living) has shared his unique perspective of fueling a B-1 from a KC-135R tanker in the past. Now he's passed along a new video—and it is just about the coolest montage of B-1 footage on the planet.
The video shows Bones doing things that Bones do—flying fast, making fire with four massive General Electric F101 engines, and blowing-up tons of stuff on the ground. The video is yet another reminder of how the B-1 has gone from the red-headed stepchild of the Air Combat Command to one of the most valued and effective multi-role strike platforms in the DoD inventory.
Recently B-1B's flew to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to do its duty as part of the Air Force’s continuous bomber rotation to the Pacific. It was the first time in over a decade the Bone had been forward deployed to Guam. Since their arrival the jets fhave been flown all over the region, including the closest a bomber has come to the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula in 60 years and over the disputed South China Sea.
The video also includes a peek at the major upgrades recently made to the jet’s avionics. The Weapon System Officer (WSO) stations have transitioned from a 1980s looking maelstrom of digital readouts and cathode ray tube monitors to a much more organized array of modern multi-functional displays tied to improved mission computers and the jet’s updated data links.
Contact the author Tyler@thedrive.com
