Posted on 08/09/2012 3:26:17 PM PDT by blam
The Bomber That Carries America's Biggest Bunker-Busters Is Getting Major Upgrades
Michael Kelley
Aug. 9, 2012, 3:24 PM |
U.S. Air Force
The Air Force's B-1B "Lancer" multi-mission bomber is getting some notable upgrades in the next year, David Cenciotti at The Aviationist reports.
Known as "Bone" in aviation circles, the B-1B is capable of accommodating the largest payloads in the U.S. Air Force inventory – including the the 30,000 lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) that is now ready to bust bunkers 200 feet down and through 60 feet of reinforced concrete.
In June, Cenciotti reported that the B-1B "will be able to send, receive text messages and be programmed for war" after receiving advanced hardware and software upgrades that will undergo operational testing in September 2013.
By then the B-1B will have the option of carrying up to 24 of the new AGM-158B Joint Air-Surface Stanfoff Extended Range (JASSM-ER)missiles – GPS-guided cruise missiles with 2,250-lbs warhead capable of reaching a target 600 miles away – that will be operational at the beginning of next year.
Cenciotti notes that the B-1 will be able to deploy these radar-evading, extremely jamming resistant missiles "against fortified, fixed and relocateable high-valuable targets, while remaining well clear of long-range surface-to-air missiles" that guard well-defended air spaces such as Syria and Iran.
Iran Says America's Bunker-Busting Bombs Could Set Off Global Conflict
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We'll call that the Bone Phone!
The plane Carter tried to kill.
Elegant beast! What’s the payload compared to a B-52? I never thought of them as being able to carry much. Nukes are dense and heavy but not that big. Never thought about this bird as doing plain ordinary iron bomb dropping.
I think it has a warhead of about 1000 pounds and the whole missile is around 2000 pounds, not a 2200 pound warhead.
Anyway this is good news as to the capabilities of long range airpower.
I would say that Curtis Lemay would be proud, but he probably wouldn’t be impressed with anything with less than a 20 megaton warhead.
I remember when they tested one of those MOABs. I happened to be just about 28 miles from where it exploded. I was disappointed that I didn’t feel or hear anything.
If I remember right, they just dumped it out of the back of a C-130.
Most aesthetically pleasing design flying.
The B-52 has about 70,000 lbs of internal payload, but its quite a bit slower than the B-1B, especially when fully loaded.
I think the B-2 is about 40,000 lbs.
Payload is around two-thirds of the B-52’s capacity. From back when we we really mauling the Taliban, I recall reading that the B-1 uses rotary launchers and bomb racks that can disgorge their contents at variable speeds. Pretty neat trick, allowing the bombardier to really saturate a target if he so desires.
B-1 ==> 75,000lb ordnance (internal stores)
B-52 ==> 70,000lb ordnance (internal and external)
According to wikipedia (hah hah)
I had a great big glossy of the B-58 on my wall when I was a kind.
It sure made me dream.
B-58 Hustler if I remember correctly. These were the source for lots of sonic booms before the whiners outlawed super sonic flights over the mainland USA.
Isn't that the B-58 Hustler?
I read that the 30k pound MOAB was tested at Eglin AFB, the largest military base in the world. The article was talking about the size of Eglin and used the testing of the MOAB there to dramatize the size of the base.
They said that no-one not involved in the testing heard the explosion. So...
I had a tray with a Vickers Spitfire on it——long story.
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