B-1B Demonstrates Upgraded Strike Capability

Released on Friday, August 19, 2005

The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, demonstrated new capabilities July 25 over the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, when two Lancers from Dyess auto-released a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile as well as three dissimilar weapons from the same launcher.

The 7th Bomb Wing became the first unit to achieve initial operational capability of the JASSM cruise missile August 18, which means the missile is able to be used in combat operations.

The JASSM, or AGM-158A, is an air-to-surface, single warhead self-propelled missile. The July 25 launch continued the bomber's perfect record for JASSM launches when it struck its target after traveling more than 170 nautical miles (310+ km).

The mission's success was made possible by the final testing of new offensive avionics software designated as Sustainment Block 10 or SB-10. An enhanced version of the Lancer's flight software, SB-10 provides advanced weapons patterning capability and the ability to load more than one type of weapon in each of the B-1's three weapons bays.

In addition to carrying one JASSM each, both B-1Bs used in the White Sands demonstration carried 28 MK-82 500-pound free-fall, general purpose 'dumb' bombs, one GBU-38 500-pound Global Positioning System-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions, one GBU-31 2,000-pound GPS-guided JDAM, and an MK-84 2,000-pound general purpose 'dumb' bomb.

Prior to the White Sands demonstration, the B-1B and 337th TES accomplished another first June 21 when a Lancer over the Gulf of Mexico dropped guided cluster weapons on a moving maritime target in support of Sinking Exercise East.

SINKEX East is the latest in a series of Air Force Chief of Staff-sponsored maritime interdiction exercises to demonstrate the Air Force's capability to strike targets at sea.

The flight was the culmination of a six-month test to evaluate the maritime role of an anti-tank weapon, the Cluster Bomb Unit-105 or CBU-15 wind corrected munitions dispenser. The test also evaluated the B-1's use of its moving target radar mode to find, track and successfully target three remotely controlled motor boats on three separate runs prior to releasing two weapons in a single pass.

The JASSM platform is part of the B-1 Joint Standoff Weapon/JASSM Integration (JJI) program, an extension of the B-1B's Block E system upgrades and one part of the overall B-1B conventional mission upgrade program, officials said. The JASSM was designed to penetrate highly defended airspace as an independent cruise missile in order to eliminate high-value fixed targets.

Once completed, the B-1B will have the largest JASSM capability in the Air Force with a maximum capacity of 24 missiles. Other platforms that are capable of carrying the JASSM are the B-52 Stratofortress, the B-2 Spirit, the F-117 Nighthawk and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.