Air Force Times reported that the US Air Force “finished retiring 17 B-1B Lancer bombers this week, its first step toward divesting the entire fleet within the next two decades.” The US Air Force announced Friday that the 17 bombers left Edwards Air Force Base on Thursday for the aviation graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Of the original 100 B-1Bs, 45 are still operational “and are housed at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, and Dyess AFB, Texas.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)
Tag: B-1 Lancer
Air Force Begins Retiring B-1 Lancer Aircraft
Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force began the process of retiring its B-1 Lancer Wednesday, “as the ‘Bone’ bomber flew to the Air Force’s boneyard where divested aircraft are kept in storage.” The Air Force plans to retire 17 of its 62 B-1 aircraft. According to the service, divesting its most battered B-1s would free up maintainers to restore the health of the remainder of the B-1 fleet. Air Force Global Strike Command lead Gen. Tim Ray said that the retirement of the aircraft is “something we have been working toward for some time. Due to the wear and tear placed on the B-1 fleet over the past two decades, maintaining these bombers would cost 10s of millions of dollars per aircraft to get back to status quo. And that’s just to fix the problems we know about. We’re just accelerating planned retirements.” The last B-1 aircraft is scheduled to leave service in 2036.
Full Story (Air Force Times)
US Air Force Grounds Entire Fleet of B1-B Bombers
The Daily Mail reports that Commander of the US Air Force’s Global Strike Command Gen. Tim Ryan said Tuesday that he has “ordered a safety stand-down” for the service’s entire B1-B bomber fleet. The decision “was made after a ‘ground emergency’ on April 8 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.” Engineers “discovered what defense website The War Zone said was a ‘massive hole’ in the filter housing, which was leaking a large amount of fuel.” The “site reported that the plane which sparked the concern, identified as 86-0104, had been seen trailing a large plume of unburned fuel on landing.” Ryan “confirmed in his statement that ‘a discrepancy with an Augmenter Fuel Pump Filter Housing was discovered.’”
Full Story (Daily Mail)
US Air Forces Resumes Flying Some B-1Bs
Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force “is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet last month to investigate a fuel system issue.” Some B-1B Lancers “resumed flight operations Monday, about two weeks after Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the fleet of 57 aircraft to stand down for safety inspections. The service declined to say how many were cleared for flight, citing operational sensitivities.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)