Key Points and Summary – The B-1B Lancer was supposed to “go gentle into that good night,” but the Bone keeps refusing to retire.
-The U.S. Air Force has a tough call to make: just how many updates can be done?
U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons intercept two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers during exercise Amalgam Dart 21-2, March 23, 2021. The exercise will run from March 20-26 and range from the Beaufort Sea to Thule, Greenland and extend south down the Eastern Atlantic to the U.S. coast of Maine. Amalgam Dart 21-2 provides NORAD the opportunity to hone homeland defense skills as Canadian, U.S., and NATO forces operate together in the Arctic. A bi-national Canadian and American command, NORAD employs network space-based, aerial and ground based sensors, air-to-air refueling tankers, and fighter aircraft controlled by a sophisticated command and control network to deter, detect and defend against aerial threats that originate outside or within North American airspace. NATO E-3 Early Warning Aircraft, Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter aircraft, CP-140 long-range patrol aircraft, CC-130 search and rescue and tactical aircraft, and a CC-150T air refueler; as well as U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft, KC-10 Extender refueler, KC-46 Pegasus, KC-135 Stratotanker, as well as C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft will participate in the exercise. (U.S. Air National Guard courtesy photo)
Once built to replace the B-52, the swing-wing bomber is now being reshaped as the Air Force’s hypersonic testbed.
-New Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylons will let it carry up to a dozen external missiles on top of its already huge internal payload, turning it into a flying missile truck just as Washington scrambles to keep pace with China.
-With fresh funding and even “boneyard” jets coming back to life, the B-1B may be flying well into the 2040s.
The B-1B Keeps Getting More Upgrades and Refuses to Retire
In the immortal words of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (October 27, 1914 – November 9, 1953), “Do not go gentle into that good night/Old age should burn and rave at close of day/Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
In the spirit of the late great Mr. Thomas’s exhortations, two old fighting warbirds in the United States Air Force arsenal immediately come to mind for doggedly refusing to go away quietly despite repeated efforts to retire them: (1) the A-10 Warthog ground-attack plane and (2) our current topic, the Rockwell B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, AKA the “Bone,”
Efforts to retire the B-1B have only proven partially successful. Like the B-52 Stratofortress, AKA the “BUFF” (“Big Ugly Fat F****r,” or “Big Ugly Fat Fellow” if you’re in polite company),” the Bone keeps on plugging away, and for essentially the same reasons: (1) the ability to carry such huge, devastating payloads; and (2) versatility, particularly its adaptability to upgraded weapons system packages.
BONE Backstory
Though not as old and venerable or as battle-tested as the septuagenarian B-52, the B-1B is no spring chicken, having made its maiden flight in prototype form in 1983 (nine years after the B-1A), thus making it a mere five years younger than the third warbird in the USAF strategic bomber triumvirate, the Northrop B-2 Spirit (the original “Stealth Bomber”).
Fast-forward to December 1998, and it was during Operation Desert Fox that the Bone was finally first “blooded” in combat; this bombing campaign was initiated in response to then-Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein’s recalcitrant refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors, and the primary mission was to strike military targets in Iraq that contributed to its ability to produce, store, maintain, and deliver weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
A 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancer flies over the East China Sea May 6, 2020, during a training mission. The 9th EBS is deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as part of a Bomber Task Force supporting Pacific Air Forces’ strategic deterrence missions and commitment to the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman River Bruce)
The Bone Gets a Boost
As proof of the bomber’s upgrade adaptability, the B-1B is now getting pylons so it can carry even more weapons.
A handy source of information comes to us from Dario Leone, founder and owner of The Aviation Geek Club, in a July 11, 2025, article titled “New External Pylons will drastically expand USAF B-1B weapon capabilities.” Signore Leone quotes Jennifer Wong, Boeing’s Senior Director of Bomber Programs, thusly: “‘The whole point of this is for the B-1 to become the Air Force’s hypersonic testbed. Because of all the modernization efforts on the B-52, we cannot divert resources from what we’re doing today to test hypersonics. So, we will be doing hypersonics testing on the B-1.”
(NOTE: Though originally built by the now-defunct Rockwell International, the B-1B contract now falls under the purview of Boeing, which is more than a tad ironic, seeing how Boeing is the manufacturer of the B-52 that the Bone had been intended to replace in the first place.)
The Lancers’ new lease on life as a hypersonic test bed becomes even more significant in light of America’s efforts to keep pace with China in the hypersonic arms race.
The Nitty-Gritty of the Bone’s Upgrades
In its present form, the Lancer packs a payload capacity of 75,000 lbs. (34,000 kg) of ordnance.
The new weapons pylon, known as the Load Adaptable Modular (LAM), would enable the Bone to carry up to 12 missiles externally by installing six of those pylons, which would pile on to the 24 already carried in its internal weapon bays, thus acting as a major force multiplier.
Boeing added that the missiles would be of two types, namely boost-glide vehicles and air-breathing missiles.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, flies over the United States, July 2, 2025. The B-1B is a heavy bomber with up to a 75,000 pound payload. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman Spencer Strubbe)
The B-1 B’s external hardpoints had originally been designed during the Cold War for the “doomsday mission,” i.e., penetrating deep into the heart of Mother Russia and deploying nuclear cruise missiles.
However, these were decommissioned in 1994 under treaty agreements as part of the so-called “peace dividend” generated by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and thus began the rather belated conversion of the Bone to the conventional bombing role.
The Way Forward for the Upgraded Bone
The Air Force awarded the LAM contract to Boeing back in July. According to Stefano D’Urso of The Aviationist, “The procurement of the new system is also mentioned in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal’s Justification Book under the B-1B external heavy-stores pylon program…with a budget of $10 million in FY2025 and $68.7 million in FY2026.”
Though theoretically set to retire sometime in the 2030s, upgrades such as the LAM could enable the B-1B to remain in faithful service through 2040 and beyond.
Indeed, two mothballed specimens—affectionately nicknamed “Rage” and “Lancelot”—which had been relegated to the “Boneyard” (no wordplay intended vis-à-vis the “Bone”) at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona (in the vicinity of Tucson), were recently retrieved for refurbishment.
And in the most recent public demonstration of the Lancer’s continued relevance, one of the bombers participated in a four-day exercise with the Indian Air Force (IAF) last week, with images released by the IAF on November 12 showing the BONE flying with three Dassault Mirage 2000s and two Sukhoi Su-30MKIs. (The irony of seeing the American-made bomber teaming up with the Russian-made Sukhoi fighter is not lost on us.)
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
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