Something went mistaken for the flight crew on a B-1B Lancer bomber of the 28th Bomb Wing on Thursday. The flying conditions were undeniably inclement: reportedly dense, freezing fog.
Whatever it was that went mistaken, it caused the routine training mission to finish with a big supersonic strategic bomber crashed on the runway of Ellsworth Air Force base in South Datkota, leading to an “explosion and lively fire” (per an overheard ground controller) and a superb flash that may very well be seen a good distance away.
Fortunately, the bomber’s crew of 4 ejected successfully. Three were subsequently treated at base for minor injuries, while a fourth was hospitalized (but in secure condition) due allegedly to a back injury—a standard occurrence when ejecting.
Air traffic at Ellsworth was subsequently suspended, and maintenance personnel were reportedly summoned for a commander’s call.
The primary alleged photo of this still mysterious incident emerged Friday afternoon on a Facebook page commonly used as an Air Force rumor mill. It appears to point out the wrecked aircraft belly-down on the snowed-over grass next to, but not on, the runway at Ellsworth. Some allege that the photo comes from a tower-mounted live feed at the bottom. Popular Mechanics cannot confirm the veracity of the photo right now, nonetheless.
One other post at the identical page provides additional context:
“Ellsworth AFB B-1, Aircraft 85-0085, crashed on the runway during landing. 4 ejected, one within the ER with back issues. They’re all okay. Believed to be because of icy and foggy conditions. My buddy from the flightline told me that they tried to maintain them from flying this morning. It’s VERY foggy out straight away. Which is immediately freezing to the bottom.”
The Air Force has just 45 B-1B bombers left of the 100 in-built the Eighties. It recently retired 17 B-1Bs, of which 4 were required to be stored in good quality condition to make back any casualties. It’s likely one in all these aircraft might be tapped to exchange the one which crashed.
The B-1B fleet has had a rough few years. A 7th Bomb Wing Lancer was laid up in Norway for weeks after an engine fire allegedly attributable to accident ingestion of a pc tablet. One other B-1B caught dramatically on fire on the bottom in April 20, 2022.
ACES II Ejection Seat to the Rescue
The B-1B uses a frivolously customized variant of the Collins Aerospace ACES II ejection seat system, which either routinely fires off the crew (after popping off cover panels in rapid succession over the course of two seconds to cut back odds of collision), or allows the person crew to manually pull a handle on the fitting side of their seat to trigger an ejection.
Each 127-pound aluminum alloy seat is designed to account for the burden of the seated crew member and adjust thrust from the CKU-5/A rocket catapult accordingly. At low speed and altitude conditions, the parachute would come out in lower than two seconds, allowing the crew to securely eject even at zero altitude, zero speed conditions—ie. while on the bottom.
On condition that the B-1 within the alleged photo appears to have crash landed, it’s technically possible that the crew ejected after impact. Nonetheless, it seems more likely that they ejected throughout the final approaching upon realizing they were unlikely to execute a secure landing.
The fate of the last Lancers
After the cancellation of a more ambitious B-1A bomber within the Seventies, the inexpensive B-1B was procured within the Eighties to penetrate Soviet airspace at low altitude and deliver nuclear strikes. Its swing wings could tuck in to cut back drag for low-supersonic flight, or extend wide for maximal lift while going low and slow. Its limited stealth characteristics gave the large bomber a radar cross-section within the ballpark of a much smaller F-16 fighter.
After the Soviet threat evaporated, the BONE’s nuclear capability was eventually stripped and it was used as an alternative as a high-altitude bomber for blasting the likes of the Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, and ISIS over the course of very long missions. This allowed them to supply extended-duration on-call air support for troops below.
Having flown over 12,000 combat missions, mostly within the ‘War on Terror’ era, the remaining B-1Bs way back surpassed their services lives. Now, they exhibit very high maintenance requirements—greater than those of the Air Force’s older and slower B-52 bombers, which today are utilized in the same strategy to the B-1s. Because of this, the Air Force is planning to retire the B-1s in favor of keeping the B-52s lively for a long time longer.
Low-altitude flights—which Air Force B-1B crews train for but don’t actually perform operationally—tended to particularly stress the airframes and were even effectively banned by the service to maintain the airplanes in as flyable condition as possible.
While the Air Force plans to retire all its Lancers within the 2030s, they still play a very important role as long-range, long-endurance weapons carriers for now. They are going to likely proceed to achieve this a minimum of until they’re replaced by recent B-21 stealth bombers.
Despite its low serviceability rates, the B-1B’s ability to hold large payloads (as much as 25 tons on its wings, or 37.5 tons in its three internal bays) over long distances would depart it much in demand within the event of a serious conflict with Russia or (especially) China. Lancers specifically can be tapped to launch long-range AGIM-158C LRASM anti-ship missiles and possibly lug hypersonic weapons.
Nonetheless, the Air Force isn’t prone to use the Lancer for its original intended low-altitude penetrating strike role because of low odds of survival operating inside range of recent air defenses. That said, the B-1’s greater stealth and speed may allow it to approach a bit closer to key targets than a B-52 could, allowing faster reactivity versus moving or time-sensitive targets.