The Tu-160 while it looks similar to the B-1B is a very different aircraft.
the soviet union designed the blackjack primarily as a means to deliver a
nuclear strike during World War III.
However the soviets designed the jet mainly as a means to deliver
nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, though the aircraft retained the ability to
do low-level penetration.
As such, the Tu-160 is much larger and much faster than the B-1B. With a
maximum takeoff weight of over 606,000 pounds and top speed greater than
mach 2.05. By contrast the b1b weighs in at 477,000 pounds.
The Rockwell international B-1B Lancer strategic bomber and the russian
Tu-160 blackjack look visually similar and even share some overlap in
their mission sets. howeve,r the two aircraft are quite different.
The B-1B was originally designed as a high-altitude supersonic penetrator,
before the carter administration canceled the program in 1977. After it
became apparent that the new bomber would not be able to survive against
new soviet air defenses.
Instead, the carter administration emphasized ballistic missiles and
authorized the development of what would eventually become the Northrop
Grumman B-2A spirit Stealth Bomber. However, the development of the
stealth bomber was not made public and would remain classified for years
to come.
President Ronald Reagan resurrected the supersonic bomber as the B-1B.
Instead of penetrating at high altitude, the new B-1B would be optimized
for low altitude penetration using a combination of speed, terrain masking
and reduced radar cross-section.
However the trade-off was that the B-1B sacrificed high-altitude,
high-speed performance as a result. while the B-1A had a top speed of over
mach 2.0 but the B-1B can barely manage mach 1.25 as a result of its many
structural changes and fixed geometry inlets.
After the end of the cold war, the B-1B was denuclearized and refocused on
the conventional role with all of the jet's nuclear hardware being removed
in 1995.
In place of the nuclear capability, the bomber was given a new
conventional role starting with conventional mission upgrade program.
As part of the effort, the bomber was fitted with enhanced synthetic
aperture radar capability and the ability to carry precision guided
munitions.
In the intervening years since september 11/2001, the bomber has been
upgraded with new sensors like the sniper XR targeting pod and data links
to better enable to jet to perform missions for america's
counter-insurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although B-1B is no longer able to fight inside heavily defended airspace
but the aircraft will still have a role in the high-end fight, as a
standoff cruise missile carrier, using weapons like the joint air to
surface standoff missile extended range and long-range anti-ship missile.
Ironically, that means that during a high-end fight it will have a role
similar to the russian Tu-160. Even upgrades come even as the u.s air
force has suggested it could retire the B-1B lancer beginning in 2025.
The united states air force global strike command has moved one step
closer to arming the number of B-1B lancer bombers with external weapons,
which can provide geographic combatant command with increased capabilities
while putting fewer aircraft and aircraft in harm's way.
In the tests, the lancer launched an inert joint air to surface standoff
missile from an external pylon underneath the aircraft's fuselage.
The external pylon usually carries the sniper targeting pod. this follows
an earlier test, during which a B-1B carried an inert joint air to surface
standoff missile under an external pylon for the first time.
The goal of these tests is to determine how the cold war era B-1B bombers
can be best employed to carry hypersonic weapons externally.
Major general Christopher Azzano, air force test center commander said,
"the air force test center is enthusiastically teeming with the air force
global strike command to enable greater flexibility in bomber payloads."
Demonstration of B-1B external carriage reflects the potential to keep
weapon systems in the fight with increased combat capability, major
general christopher azano said.
The targeting pod pylon on the B-1B was modified mechanically, which
allowed for different connector configurations, while the internal wiring
was replaced with harnesses to support its new role.
The air force said that the flight culminates the B-1B expanded carriage
demonstration that began with a modified internal bombay demo in 2019.
This was followed by a box drop, ground tests that was conducted in
october 2020 to verify the mechanical modifications to the pylon and then
last month's captive carry flight which helped set up the external release
mission.
