Bad to the Bone: Fun facts about the Boeing (Rockwell) B-1B Lancer

Fact #1: The Bone carries the largest payload of both guided and unguided munitions in the entire United States Air Force Inventory.

Fact #2: The B-1B’s speed and handling characteristics are more like a fighter, allowing it to seamlessly integrate into large force strike packages.

Fact #3: The Synthetic Aperture Radar aboard the B-1 is capable of tracking, targeting, and engaging moving vehicles, and features both terrain-following and self-targeting modes.

Fact #4: The B-1A was initially developed in the 1970s as a replacement for the B-52.

Fact #5: The B-1A’s top speed was in excess of Mach 2.

Fact #6: The B-1B holds almost 50 world records for speed, payload, range, and time of climb in its class.

Fact #7: The first B-1B was delivered to Dyess Air Force Base in June 1985. The final B-1B was delivered May 2, 1988.

Fact #8: The B-1B was first used in combat in Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.

Fact #9: In 1999, six B-1s were used in Operation Allied Force, delivering more than 20 percent of the total ordnance while flying less than 2 percent of the combat sorties.

Fact #10: During the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, eight Lancers dropped nearly 40 percent of the total ordnance delivered by coalition air forces. This included nearly 3,900 JDAMs, or 67 percent of the total.