B-1 Lancer 2025 | The Most Powerful Bomber Ever Built | US Air Force Beast - video Dailymotion

Military Aviation

The B-1 Lancer, also known as the “Bone,” is one of the most powerful strategic bombers ever built by the US Air Force. With its supersonic speed, stealth features, and heavy payload capacity, the B-1B Lancer remains a true beast of the skies. In this 2025 update, we explore why the B-1 is still considered the most powerful bomber in the world, its unmatched firepower, and its role in modern warfare.   The B-1 Lancer is not just any bomber. It is the most powerful bomber ever built. Featuring four rocket ship-like afterburner engines and supersonic speeds, get ready to learn about this remarkable aircraft.   B-1 Lancer | The Most Powerful Bomber Ever Built   If you’re a fan of military aviation, fighter jets, and powerful aircraft, this video is a must-watch!   B-1 Lancer, B-1 Lancer 2025, US Air Force bomber, most powerful bomber in the world, B-1 Lancer takeoff, B-1 bomber speed, supersonic bomber, strategic bomber, US military aircraft, B-1 Lancer vs B-52, B-1 Lancer documentary, powerful bomber 2025, US Air Force jet, heavy bomber aircraft, B-1 Lancer power   #B1Lancer #USAirForce #MilitaryAviation #BomberAircraft #PowerfulBomber #SupersonicBomber #Aircraft2025 #MilitaryPower #USAF #WarMachines

Transcript

00:00This is the B-1 Lancer, an aircraft that has the speed of a fighter jet, the payload of

00:05a bomber, and the looks of a transformer.

00:08It can fly at supersonic speeds upwards of Mach 1.2, has four rocket ship-like engines

00:13with fire-emitting afterburner, and is so maneuverable that even when weighing a staggering

00:18400,000 pounds, it can roll upside down and fly inverted.

00:22And despite its nearly 150 feet in length, the B-1 was designed to carry only two things,

00:28fuel, and bombs.

00:30Well today I'm out here at Dias Air Force Base with the 7th Bomb Wing to take you up close

00:34to this incredible aircraft.

00:36By the end of this video, I can promise you one thing, you'll know why the B-1 Lancer is

00:40considered by many to be one of the most powerful aircraft to ever fly.

00:58I'm First Lieutenant Davis Perkins, the pilot on the B-1B Lancer, aircraft also known as

01:18the Bone.

01:19This aircraft carries the largest conventional payload of any U.S. strike asset at 75,000 pounds,

01:24which allows us to do global strike missions, putting air power anytime, anywhere.

01:29Because of our capabilities and airspeed, we're able to integrate with the rest of the

01:32U.S. Air Force inventory, fighters, and other fast-movers assets.

01:36Now you may notice that the aircraft is often referred to as the B-1B Lancer, and that's

01:41because there were actually two versions built.

01:43The original, the B-1A, was developed in the 1970s as a replacement for the B-52 Stratofortress.

01:49Four prototypes of this long-range, high-speed bomber were developed and tested in the mid-1970s,

01:55but the program ended up being canceled in 1977 before ever going into production.

02:00Well, flash forward to the early 1980s when a new administration took over, the B-1 program

02:05was revitalized, this time under the designation B-1B.

02:09Improvements to the original A model included an increased payload, improved radar, and a

02:13reduction of the radar cross-section, a fancy way of saying how easily the aircraft appears

02:17on enemy radar.

02:19The first B-1B was delivered right here to Dias Air Force Base, Texas in June of 1985.

02:24And just three years later, in 1988, a total of 100 aircraft had been successfully delivered

02:29to the United States Air Force.

02:32So when you look at the other two bomber aircraft in the Air Force, right, the B-2 Spirit, the

02:36B-52 Stratofortress, what would you say really sets the B-1 apart?

02:40So things that set the B-1 apart are its speed, maneuverability, and payload.

02:45It's a 1.2 Mach-capable aircraft, and with the wings pinned, we can pull three Gs, and

02:51it carries up to 75,000 pounds of conventional weapons, which is more than the other Air Force

02:56strike assets.

02:57Now one of the most iconic features of the B-1 can be found right here with the wings.

03:01The B-1 was built with what are known as variable swept wings, meaning the wings can actually

03:06move and reposition during flight.

03:08This is a feature you may recognize from fighter aircraft like the F-14 Tomcat.

03:13For most airplanes, wing designs are trade-offs.

03:15You either design the wing for low-speed stability, high-speed performance, or something sort of

03:19in the middle.

03:20For many aircraft with a singular mission, that works just fine.

03:24But for something like the B-1, with a mission that requires it to go both fast and slow,

03:28be able to maneuver and have high stability, flexibility in the wing configuration allows

03:32massive advantages to the different missions the aircraft is able to perform.

03:37During takeoff, landings, and other slow-speed flight, the B-1's wings are extended out

03:40to increase lift and drag in what's known as full forward, with the wings almost perpendicular

03:45to the body of the aircraft.

03:47Then when the aircraft speeds up, especially during supersonic flight, the wings pivot to

03:50the rear in what's known as full sweep, giving the B-1 an almost delta wing-like appearance

03:55for full maneuverability.

03:57So the variable wings on the B-1 can sweep anywhere from 15 degrees, which is full forward,

04:02or all the way to 67.5, which is wings full aft, or as we like to call them, wings pin.

04:09At 15 degrees, which is full forward the way you see the configuration now, this is where

04:13we put the wings for takeoff and landing, or slow flight, basically whenever we want to

04:18use the least amount of fuel to stay airborne, or we want to fly the slowest airspeed possible.

04:23Crews will actually bump back 10 degrees to 25 degrees wing, which is our most efficient

04:28for our max range configuration.

04:31And then for actual weapons employment, we'll sweep back to between 45 and 67, depending on

04:36the style of mission we're doing.

04:37With the wings full aft, at 67.5 degrees, we can actually, are quite maneuverable and

04:43the jet flies like a fighter at low altitude, so it's pretty fun to fly.

04:47Now I think everyone's favorite feature on the Bone are these engines right here.

04:52We've probably all seen the shots of the B-1 taking off, full burner, engines rattling,

04:57fire coming out the back.

04:59It's just crazy to me that they put fighter jet-like engines on the back of a bomber.

05:04So from a pilot's perspective, what's it like to fly with these things?

05:07What can you tell us about that performance?

05:09It's incredible.

05:10It's a ton of fun.

05:12When you're in the airspace and you plug all four into max, which is full burner, you can

05:17just feel the kick in your pants and you can just watch your airspeed just scroll up as

05:22you just speed up.

05:24Each engine makes about 15,009 pounds of thrust at mill power, which is our highest power setting

05:29out of afterburner.

05:30Once you go into burner and push it all the way up to max, each engine is making about

05:3430,000.

05:35So it's about 120,000 pounds of thrust in full afterburner.

05:39Now another cool feature is actually right behind the engines, and I've always found this

05:43fascinating, right?

05:44The rolling stabilizers.

05:46Can you talk a little bit about their design and what they allow the B-1 to do?

05:49Sure.

05:50So the rolling stab or split stab actually allows each side of the horizontal stab to

05:55move independently.

05:56So if you can imagine, if you're looking at the jet from the back, you'll have one doing

06:00this while the other does this.

06:02And what that does for us is it plays into that maneuverability factor I talked about

06:06earlier that sets us apart from other global strike assets in that it gives us a lot more

06:11roll authority.

06:12So our spoilers that we have in the wings, since we don't have ailerons, we use spoilers

06:16to spoil the lift.

06:17And that'll drop the wing on either side.

06:20At high speeds, those spoilers aren't as efficient, and they don't provide as much

06:24roll authority just because they get blown back.

06:27So the stab kind of takes over at that point, and we're going really fast, full burner, with

06:32the wings pinned.

06:33That's when we need that extra roll authority that the split stab gives us.

06:36Now the typical crew for a B-1 mission includes four total personnel.

06:40Your standard pilot and co-pilot, but also two WIZOs, which stands for Weapons Systems Officer.

06:45Their role, just like their name indicates, is to operate the Weapons Systems on the B-1,

06:49in addition to integrating with the pilots to help ensure that they have good situational

06:53awareness at all times.

06:54All right, hey, I'm Lane Musgrave, and I'm a Weapons Systems Officer on the B-1 Lancer.

06:59So we're dual qualified as an Offensive Systems Operator or a Defensive Systems Operator.

07:03On the offensive side, we're responsible for weapons employment, sensor operation, navigation,

07:09and communication.

07:10And then on the defensive side, we're responsible for managing our defensive avionics system,

07:14deploy expendables, and managing all of our receive and transmit capabilities.

07:19All right, so for a Weapons Systems Officer, the main things we're focused on are our sensors

07:23and our weapons.

07:24So as you can see, we've got our radar on the front, so the APQ-164.

07:28We've also got our advanced sniper targeting pod.

07:30And then we have three weapons bays that can be configured to carry different types of weapons,

07:35depending on our mission set.

07:44Oh, wow.

07:45It's a lot bigger than you'd expect.

07:46Yeah, so this is the main attraction for the bomber.

07:49So we've got three bays, a forward, intermediate, and an aft bay.

07:53Currently, our forward bay is configured with the Storrs Bay tank.

07:56It adds an additional 20,000 pounds of fuel for our ocean crossings or long duration sorties.

08:01In the intermediate bay, we currently are configured for a 10-carry, an SBM-10 launcher.

08:06So this can carry 500,000-pound munitions, including our laser-guided JDAMs.

08:12And in the aft bay, we've currently got a conventional rotary launcher, or a CRL,

08:16which carries 2,000-pound class weapons, including JDAMs, our GB-31s, as well as JASM and L-RASM.

08:25Now, one thing to note is that unlike the B-52 Stratofortress and the B-2 Spirit,

08:29the B-1 Lancer does not carry nuclear weapons.

08:32However, that wasn't always the case.

08:34The B-1 was originally designed as a nuclear bomber,

08:37and was used to sit nuclear alert missions throughout its early Cold War years.

08:41However, in 1994, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and Russia

08:46limited the number of nuclear-capable bombers each country could have.

08:49And to comply, that meant the U.S. had to withdraw the B-1 from its nuclear mission.

08:54Now, a question I know I was wondering was whether or not the B-1 could still technically

08:58carry nuclear weapons if it wanted to.

09:01And what I found out is that the answer is actually no.

09:04Once the START Treaty was signed, the aircraft was physically modified to remove the special wiring

09:08and external hardpoints that made carrying nuclear weapons possible.

09:13So even though this aircraft is nearly 150 feet long and has a wingspan of 137 feet,

09:18the only way in or out is through this ladder right here on the belly of the aircraft.

09:22Like I said earlier, they designed the B-1 to carry two things, fuel and bombs.

09:27And in order to fit as much of those two as possible, that meant cutting out pretty much everything else.

09:32So, with that, I say we head up this ladder and go take a look inside the cockpit of the B-1.

09:37As I made my way inside the bone for the first time, first impressions were that, yeah, it's definitely tight.

09:43Just enough space to get the mission done, while leaving as much room as possible for the business end.

09:47Up front, you have your standard side-by-side seats for both the pilot and co-pilot,

09:51and in the back, separated by this small, hatchway-like opening, are your seats for the two weapons systems officers.

09:57Because of the large panels of screens, dials, and buttons, the two wizos can't actually see the pilot sitting in front of them,

10:03and their only physical point of reference is this small window on the left and right side of each seat,

10:08meaning they're forced to rely almost entirely on their instrument panel to know their location.

10:13Now, in case you're wondering, there is a restroom, a latrine as they call it, that's installed for long missions, but it's small,

10:18and the only space you can really stand up to stretch your legs is this small aisle right above the entrance hatch that's between the two wizos' seats.

10:25Alright, so this is the BOM nav panel, this is where we release weapons.

10:28So, when we're flying, and we're about to release a weapon, we have a launch acceptability region, or a LAR,

10:34where the jet has done computations to say that in order to hit a certain target, we can release in this area and hit the target.

10:42So, we'll go auto 20 to 30 seconds prior to release, and after opening the doors, and press auto,

10:49and then the jet will release the JATEM automatically to hit the target we want to hit.

10:55Alright, Sam, welcome inside the cockpit of the B1.

10:58As you can see, it's nice and spacious in here.

11:01From where I'm sitting up here, these are the pilot seats, so left seat, right seat, and our job up here is to manage the systems of the aircraft.

11:08So, we commonly use the acronym HIFO, which is hydraulics, engines, fuel, oxygen, and electronics.

11:14And so, we have all sorts of readouts and ways to manage those systems from these seats.

11:18So, basically, we keep the jet healthy and monitor, make sure the jet's health is good,

11:23while we drive the jet to the target that we're going to strike, put the jet in a position where we can strike the target,

11:29and then fly home safely.

11:30What about the wings?

11:31I know everyone's wondering, how do you kind of control the wings from up here?

11:34Where's that at?

11:34Sure.

11:35And so, the wing sweep's actually a manual control, so if you look on your left side, and on my right side, we have a lever,

11:41and you can see there's demarcations on the side here for where you're actually sweeping the wings,

11:46and then we also have a duplicate readout here that'll move, that shows you the actual position of the wings.

11:51So, you can put your set point here and monitor to make sure that they're getting where you intend them to go.

11:56Now, you guys can obviously drop a lot of bombs, but I imagine once you drop those bombs,

12:01I mean, that's a lot of weight that's leaving the aircraft.

12:03I imagine the center of gravity is changing.

12:05So, I guess, first, what's that feel like when, like, all that weight comes off,

12:09and how do you guys kind of handle that to make sure the aircraft can still fly?

12:11As weight leaves the jet, the CG is going to shift and change, which, with the variable sweep wing,

12:16that's something we have to keep a very close eye on.

12:19So, we actually have our fuel management panels here, and our fuel management system is a bunch of computers

12:25that can actually pump fuel forward or aft in the jet to help maintain the CG where we want it,

12:32and the system is actually able to look forward 15 minutes to see,

12:36hey, am I going to drop any weapons in the near future?

12:38What do I need to do with the fuel now so that when the weapons leave the jet, the CG is where I want it to be?

12:45And I know with an aircraft this size, not everyone would know or assume you guys actually have ejection seats to punch out,

12:51you know, knock on, what if something happened?

12:53How is that kind of sequence? Because I know it's kind of intricate.

12:56The system is sort of complex, works in a couple different ways, depending on where we have this knob.

13:01So, it's on your left, and as to my right, we've got an ejection mode knob where we can select auto and or manual.

13:07So, in manual, if you pull, your seat goes, and that's it.

13:11In auto, everybody else who is in auto is part of an ejection sequence.

13:15So, typically in critical phases of flight, our checklist drives us to have all crew members in auto.

13:20That way, if one crew member punches out, it starts a sequence that starts in the back with the O and the D,

13:25then moves up front with the co and the pilot.

13:28And then, in that way, we can eject everybody and worry less about interactions outside the aircraft.

13:35Hey Sam, how you doing? I'm Tech Sergeant Adam Sneavy.

13:46Welcome to the conventional maintenance shop. We're out here at the MAC pad.

13:50This is the munitions assembly conveyor.

13:52For conventional maintenance, we like to think of it as Santa's workshop, where they build the bombs and everything.

13:59So, this is the bread and butter of where we make the weapons go, go boom.

14:05Well, not here, but hopefully down the line when they act as they're supposed to.

14:09Yeah, so in munitions, it's literally your team that builds the bombs that go onto the B1, which you just got to see.

14:16I mean, what's that experience like? That's a lot of responsibility.

14:19It's probably the best part about it, I'd say.

14:22This is actually doing it, seeing a product built at the end of the day.

14:26There's a lot of other systems that go along in running munitions squadron to make everything run smoothly.

14:31But this is where you get to see your final product, and this is the most gratifying for me.

14:36Alright Sam, so today what we're going to do is we're going to build a GBU-31 version one.

14:40It uses a 2,000 pound bomb body. This one is inert, you can tell, because it's blue.

14:45That makes me feel sick.

14:48There's no specific order that you have to go in with building these, but what we're going to do is we're going to start with the front.

14:53This is our nose plug, and all I need you to do is just screw it into the front there.

14:58This is quite heavy, actually.

14:59They are very heavy.

15:00Is this literally the first step you all do is the nose plug, or is this kind of the last thing?

15:05When we start to actually assemble it, this is one of the first things that we'll do.

15:09It's the easiest part of the build. We have to pull out all of these items.

15:13An inspector has to inspect them. We'll lay everything out.

15:17These fins back there, which we'll get to later. What you want to do is you want to kind of get in front of it, hold on to it, the back of your hand.

15:23I got you in there.

15:24I'm going to screw it down.

15:26Nice. Okay.

15:27Cool.

15:28Is it tightening?

15:29Yep.

15:30Sweet.

15:31There you go.

15:32And as long as you can't remove it with your hand, it's tight.

15:35So that's going to stay on there.

15:36Stay on there.

15:37Until it explodes.

15:38Yeah.

15:39Now that we're on the tail end of the bomb, this is our fin. It's a KMU-556.

15:43This is what goes with the GE 31 version 1.

15:46These are our Strakes aero surfaces.

15:48These are going to go around the bomb to help to guide the bomb as it's falling through the air.

15:53One of the steps I was talking about earlier is when we take these out of the container, we actually have to test them on a computer.

15:58It's called a Cambry.

16:00Make sure the software is updated on everything and make sure it's good to go.

16:04So yeah, if you're ready, we'll grab the tools and we'll start putting this thing together.

16:09Let's just see how high we can go.

16:11Turn it up.

16:12No stop until we lose our control.

16:14Turn it up.

16:15Until we feel it down in our soul.

16:18Turn it up.

16:21Turn it up.

16:22Now as the day turned to dusk and the sun began to set here in West Texas, there was one thing I still had left to do.

16:29Catch the B-1 in action during one of its iconic burner takeoffs.

16:33Lucky for us, there was a nighttime mission scheduled to fly, which meant we were going to have the opportunity to capture just that.

16:41Alright, brief now complete.

16:42The crew's here in aircrew flight equipment to grab their gear.

16:45Last stop before they head out to the flight line to get ready for the takeoff.

16:48Should be pretty sweet.

16:49Now because of the classified nature of the mission, I'm not able to join them for the flight tonight.

17:17However, I told you that my goal is to get an upcoming shot of the B-1 taking off at night in full afterburner.

17:24And the crew has graciously allowed you to join them in the cockpit to get the best seat in the house.

17:29So, I've got my headset ready.

17:31Why don't you join me?

17:32Let's see the B-1 in action.

17:48Alright, crew ready for taxi.

17:49Pilot and co.

17:50Rodeo.

17:51Rodeo deep.

17:52Alright, you want a taxi?

17:54Walk me through it again?

17:55Yeah.

17:56Excellent.

17:57So, nozzle steering, so just push right to go right, push left to go left.

18:00So you see the yellow taxi line in front of us.

18:02You can see where it is right now.

18:03It's kind of like underneath your left leg.

18:05If you draw a line from your eyeballs to your left leg to the line, it's pretty much a straight line.

18:09Just keep it right there.

18:10Okay, so you push the top of the pedal or just any part of the pedal?

18:14Top of the pedal or the brakes if you need to slow down.

18:16Okay.

18:17You just kind of gently push left right on the whole rudder pedal to taxi.

18:20So, you have the aircraft.

18:22Alright, my aircraft.

18:23There you go.

18:24You don't need to hold the stick.

18:25Oh yeah.

18:26It's a hands-free maneuver.

18:27Hands-free.

18:28There we go.

18:29Is this something that is an acquired learning skill to taxi the B-1 or fairly easy?

18:34Going straight ahead is pretty easy.

18:36Finessing it into a parking spot takes a couple of reps.

18:38When students are learning their first sortie or two, they generally screw it up.

18:42Sometimes it's so bad you get sent around you have to do a victory lap with a parking ramp

18:46and try it again.

18:47Just watching, I was so impressed.

18:49Like, the turn radius seems pretty tight for an aircraft.

18:52We can pretty much pivot on our main gear.

18:54Wow.

18:55Yeah, the nose wheel will do a full 90 degrees left and right and then we can use differential

18:59thrust.

19:00So, if we're turning left, we take the number four engine, the far right engine, push it

19:03up, get a little differential thrust going as well.

19:05So, to do that quick 180, is it just like a full left press on the pedal or something?

19:10Yeah, it'd be a hard left turn and you'd want to slow way down because any forward speed

19:14you have is going to be added into your turn radius.

19:17Do you prefer the night sorties or flying during the day?

19:19I love flying at night.

19:21That's pretty sweet.

19:22ATC's calm, there's no traffic.

19:24Generally, any thunderstorms or weather cells tend to die down as it cools off, especially

19:28in the summer.

19:29Flying at night is awesome.

19:30There's 20 knots, we'll just hold that.

19:32If you need to gently tap the brakes, you can.

19:35If you want to try it out, see how the brakes feel.

19:38Do you tap them both at the same time?

19:39Yep.

19:40Yeah, if you just tap one, the jet's going to lurch to that side.

19:43Is that the brakes I'm hitting?

19:45That's it.

19:46You can just feel it's gently slowing down.

19:48So the brakes on the B1, they're, think of analog brakes in your vehicle.

19:53Same thing, they're anti-skid.

19:55So we can, at this gross weight, if we touch down at say 160 knots on final, we could stop

20:01in about 3500 feet, 4000 feet, if we really hammered on the brakes.

20:05Alright, so let's slow it down to about 10 knots here, and then we'll have a slight left

20:10and a slight right turn.

20:11And we're going to split the blue lights up here, so the taxiway narrows down.

20:14We start a gentle left turn.

20:16Yep, perfect.

20:19Sweet.

20:23This is honestly, like, one of the coolest things I've ever done.

20:26I've never gotten to do something like this.

20:28We'll be great.

20:291 to 2.

20:301 to 2.

20:321 to 3.

20:332 to 4.

20:34Up we're at the top, here we go.

20:352 to 3.

20:362 to 3.

20:373.

20:382 to 3.

20:394.

20:405.

20:416.

20:421 to 6.

20:432 to 7.

20:442 to 3.

20:455.

20:462.

20:473 to 8.

20:482.

20:494.

20:505.

20:515.

20:525.

20:536.

20:546.

20:556.

20:565.

20:57Well, there you go, the mighty B-1 Lancer.

21:12Now, we've covered a ton of aircraft on this channel,

21:14but there's something about this one that stands out.

21:17It's in a class of its own.

21:18I hope you enjoyed following along and learning more about this incredible aircraft.

21:22Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already.

21:23I don't think I'm going to bed anytime soon, based off how loud that was.

21:27But I'll make sure to catch you guys in the next video.

B-1 Lancer 2025 | The Most Powerful Bomber Ever Built | US Air Force Beast

Category

Transcript

Recommended