B-1B Lancer
ICAO B1A supersonic swing-wing bomber that carries more than any other American aircraft. Live B-1B Lancer positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No B-1B Lancer is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Rockwell
- Role
- Strategic bomber
- Class
- L4J — Landplane, 4 jet engines
- Crew
- 4
- First flight
- 23 December 1974
- In service
- 1986
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the B-1B Lancer
The B-1B carries the largest conventional payload in the US Air Force inventory, on a variable-geometry wing that sweeps back for high-speed low-level penetration. It was conceived for a nuclear role, converted entirely to conventional weapons in the 1990s, and has spent most of its operational life doing close air support at long range.
Around forty-five remain, and the fleet is being drawn down as the B-21 Raider arrives. Bomber Task Force deployments to Europe and the Pacific are the most likely time to see one here — those transits are flown through civil airspace with transponders on.
On the ground it is a striking aircraft: long, low and smoothly blended, with the wings tucked back against the fuselage.
Callsign prefixes
- BONE
- From B-One, the type's universal nickname
- DOOM
- Shared with other bomber deployments
How to recognise it
- —A variable-geometry wing on a long, blended fuselage that has no sharp break between wing and body.
- —Four engines in two pairs under the wing roots, and a tall swept fin.
- —Much sleeker than a B-52 and considerably longer than it looks in photographs.
Common questions
+ Does the B-1 still carry nuclear weapons?
No. It was converted to a purely conventional role in the 1990s under arms control agreements, and the equipment was physically removed. It carries the largest conventional load in the fleet instead.
+ Why is it called the Bone?
From "B-One", written out. The nickname is universal among crews and appears in callsigns.
+ What is replacing the B-1?
The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, with the B-1 and B-2 both due to retire as it arrives. The B-52, older than both, will outlast them.