B-1 BOMBER LOST IN THE INDIAN OCEAN!!

Fox News

[RetiredArmy]

Pilots out?

[isthisnickcool]

May the Lord be with them.

[mystery-ak]

No info on the 4-man crew....Pray for their safety.

[Walkin Man]

B-1

[Fury]

Darn it... Well, time will tell it this was the result of enemy fire...

[American Soldier]

Could this be the result of the use of some kind of missile system smuggled out by some of the Al Qaeda / Taliban thugs sneaking out on ships?

[Walkin Man]

They didn't say anything about the aircrew, they are talking about the video of bin-Laden now.

[Heisenburger]

B-1 uses nap-of-the-earth flight. Perhaps they got to close to the waves.

[deport]

The B-1B was first used in combat in support of operations against Iraq during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998. B-1s have been subsequently used in Operation Allied Force.

General Characteristics

Primary Function: Long-range, multi-role, heavy bomber
Builder: Boeing, North America (formerly Rockwell International, North American Aircraft)
Operations Air Frame and Integration: Offensive avionics, Boeing Military Airplane; defensive avionics, AIL Division
Power plant: Four General Electric F-101-GE-102 turbofan engine with afterburner
Thrust: 30,000-plus pounds with afterburner, per engine
Length: 146 feet (44.5 meters)
Wingspan: 137 feet (41.8 meters) extended forward, 79 feet (24.1 meters) swept aft
Height: 34 feet (10.4 meters)
Weight: Empty, approximately 190,000 pounds (86,183 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 477,000 pounds (216,634 kilograms)
Speed: 900-plus mph (Mach 1.2 at sea level)
Range: Intercontinental, unrefueled
Ceiling: More than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters)
Crew: Four (aircraft commander, copilot, offensive systems officer and defensive systems officer)
Armament: Three internal weapons bays can accommodate up to 84 Mk-82 general purpose bombs or Mk-62 naval mines, 30 CBU-87/89 cluster munitions or CBU-97 Sensor Fused Weapons and up to 24 GBU-31 JDAM GPS guided bombs or Mk-84 general purpose bombs
Date Deployed: June 1985
Unit Cost: $200-plus million per aircraft
Inventory: Active force, 51 primary mission aircraft inventory (72 actual), 2 (test); ANG, 18 PMAI (20 actual); Reserve, 0

[Blood of Tyrants]

The Taliban will be claiming that they brought it down with small arms fire.

[VRWC_minion]

Darn it... Well, time will tell it this was the result of enemy fire

If its the fuel tank or if the tail fell off I for one would be a wee bit wary of their reports.

[Walkin Man]

Yes, prayer for the aircrew on the way.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[monkeyshine]

Prayers for the crew! God Bless America and those who defend her.

[LoneGOPinCT]

Not good. Let's hope the crew is ok.

[Rebelbase]

Indian Ocean Sattelite imagery.

The weather is looking good for rescue.

[dead]

Hope the crew bailed safely.

We just installed a $200 million dollar reef in the Indian Ocean.

[eureka!]

What you said.

[Ryeoc]

my brother has been flying alot of refueling missions out of there ......... Unfortunately , when you consider the number of flights made so far in this war , we were due for a mechanical malfunction (which I'm guessing is the cause) . If mechanical then hopefully crew had time to bail and if close to Garcia they should be rescued .