Osprey Combat Aircraft 60 : B-1B Lancer Units in Combat

The development of the B-1B Lancer bomber was difficult to say the least. Originally conceived to fulfil a USAF requirement for an Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft, the original B-1A concept aircraft was accused of being a white elephant, capable of performing nothing which could not be achieved at less financial and human expense than an intercontinental ballistic missile. Cancelled by the Carter administration and finally commissioned by President Reagan as the modified B-1B, the Lancer began its duties as a nuclear-armed bomber in the mid-1980s. The end of the Cold War intervened and the bomber was removed from its nuclear missions as a result of arms control legislation. However, the 1990s saw the metamorphosis of the B-1B Lancer into a potent conventional weapons carrier which has seen action in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan. The B-1B Lancer has proved its critics wrong in demonstrating its use as a highly flexible and hard-working bomber, able to undertake diverse missions ranging from Combat Air Support (CAS) to the targeting of weapons-of-mass-destruction installations. Text by Thomas Withington with illustrations by Mark Styling.

Contents

• Background
• Design
• Service History
• Operation Desert Fox
• Operation Allied Force
• Operation Enduring Freedom
• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• The Future
• Appendices