North Korea’s shaky US Air Force B-1B 17 plans to retire next year

‘The Lancer’ will be retiring next year. This is the story of the US Air Force’s long-range bomber, the B-1B Lancer (Lancer).

The B-1B Lancer, a long-range bomber of the US Air Force. [미 공군]

According to Boeing, a B-1B maintenance and repair company on the 13th, in a press release published on the 9th (hereinafter local time), “the US Air Force will recall the 17 B-1Bs. oldest in 2021 “.

This press release related to the content that the B-1B test-launched the AGM-158 JASSM, a long-range air-to-surface missile, on the 4th. On the bottom line, I slipped a ‘retirement plan’.

B-1B has suffered abuse in the last 20 years. This is because the armament capacity is the best among the bombers of the United States Air Force. There are more bombs and missiles (34t) that can be loaded into the internal armament window than the B-52 Stratofortress (27t), a strategic bomber. Here, you can add 23 tons of weaponry to 6 difficult spots under the main wing.

On 4 (local time) on 4 (local time), the B-1B fired a test shot of the AGM-158 Jasm (JASSM), a long-range air-to-surface missile. [미 공군 유튜브 계정 캡처]

As he was running by force, there were signs of breakdowns here and there. The US Air Force told the US Congress in August last year that only six out of a total of 66 B-1Bs were fully mission-capable.

In particular, the problem of anomalies in the structure of the aircraft was serious. To fix one properly, a bill of $ 10 million (about 10 billion won) came out. It is the position of the US Air Force to ditch the old plane and add new weaponry to the rest of the B-1B. At first, it was only against “early retirement,” but eventually the US Congress passed it.

The retired B-1B is transferred to Davis Montan Air Force Base in Arizona, USA Some of the aircraft here are kept ready to fly and others are divided to use accessories.

The aircraft remaining in active service will be upgraded to use the latest weapons from the US Air Force, including Jasm.

On March 21, 2017, the US Air Force long-range bomber, the B-1B, is flying escorted by the Korean Air Force F-15K and KF-16 fighters. [미 공군]

The B-1B was designed to fly at high speed during the Cold War and launch nuclear missiles through Soviet air defense networks. However, with the New Start, a nuclear disarmament negotiation with Russia in 2010, the nuclear strike capability was completely eliminated. That is why the B-1B should not be classified as a strategic bomber.

In Korea, it was known as ‘The Swan of Death’, but the source of this nickname is unclear. The official nickname for the United States Air Force is Lancer, and within the Air Force, the letters B and 1 (one) are concatenated and called bones.

B-1B was well known to the Koreans by sending them whenever there was a crisis on the Korean peninsula. North Korea ignited with a statement condemning the flight of the B-1B over the Korean peninsula. North Korea is estimated to be afraid of B-1B.

On September 23 and 24, 2017, the B-1B squadron crossed the North East Sea Limit Line (NLL) with fighters and support aircraft and rose and fell to the north. At the time, North Korea was unable to respond adequately.

Reporter Lee Cheol-jae [email protected]