Lancer for all time
It is difficult to find anything more paradoxical than the strategic aviation of the US Air Force. Judge for yourself, the subsonic eight-engine B-52, which made its first flight back in 1952, wants to operate almost until the middle of the 21st century, while the much newer B-1 created to replace it can be written off (at least, they wanted to recently). And even the unobtrusive B-2 can be decommissioned in the foreseeable future, giving its functions to the promising B-21 Raider. Who, however, has just to make the first flight and prove that he is capable of something.
No less amazing are the metamorphoses that took place with these machines. In this sense, the B-1 Lancer is perhaps the most unusual aircraft. Recall that at first the B-1A, capable of speeds up to 2300 kilometers per hour, was transformed into a much more "modest" transonic B-1B. And then the low-altitude breakthrough and nuclear weapons in the latter were replaced with high-precision bombs and tactical cruise missiles, turning the Lancer into a weapon against terrorists.
In the new incarnation, the aircraft performed well, but it did not make it to the list of favorite combat vehicles of the US Air Force pilots, and in addition, it showed a relatively low combat readiness against the background of other winged aircraft: in 2018, the US Air Force announced that the combat readiness level was B -1B is 51.75%. For comparison: as of the 2018 financial year, the combat readiness level of the B-52H was 69.3%.
Last year it became known that the US Air Force is analyzing the possibility of abandoning a number of B-1Bs in order to redirect the freed up funds to implement the Long-Range Strike Bomber program, that is, to the B-21 Raider. And in February, the American publication "Air Forces Times" in the material "Air Force general: Two-bomber fleet is the future" reported with reference to the speech of Lieutenant General David Naom that the Air Force plans to have a mixed fleet of B-21 and B-52 bombers. …
Cruel games
It seemed that the plane was about to finally go into oblivion. But it was not there. As it turned out, now the car is again considered as one of the most important elements that ensure the high potential of the US Air Force. The situation was influenced by the Pentagon's plans to obtain airborne hypersonic weapons.
In short, the situation looks like this. Until recently, the US Air Force ran two hypersonic missile programs. We are talking about the Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) complex, better known as the AGM-183A, as well as the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon missile, which is a conceptual development of the well-known X-51. In February of this year, it became known about the refusal of the second for financial reasons. Only ARRW remains.
As Air Force Magazine reported in April in AFGSC Eyes Hypersonic Weapons for B-1, Conventional LRSO, US Air Force Strategic Command plans to upgrade B-1B Lancer strategic bombers to equip them with the advanced AGM-183A hypersonic missile. In addition, they want to teach the plane to use a non-nuclear version of the new strategic cruise missile LRSO (Long-Range Stand-Off): in case the range of the AGM-158B JASSM-ER cruise missile is not enough. Recall that it (range) is limited to about 1000 kilometers. For comparison, the Russian tactical air-launched X-101 cruise missile can have a range of more than 5,000 kilometers: at least according to the media.
The situation looks something like this: first, the Americans will write off seventeen B-1Bs, and then the remaining 44 cars will be upgraded to the new standard. As part of the modernization, the aircraft will receive eight external hardpoints, which can accommodate the AGM-183A.
“My goal would be to get at least one squadron of B-1B aircraft equipped with external hardpoints to carry an ARRW hypersonic cruise missile,”
- quotes "Air Force Magazine" as the head of the US Air Force Strategic Command, General Timothy Ray.
Here, however, an important clarification needs to be made. For the Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon or AGM-183A, they want to use both external holders and internal revolving mounts. Thus, the total number of hypersonic missiles should be 31 units! The B-1B has never had such tactical capabilities.
Defense or attack?
What is the AGM-183A? We have repeatedly considered this issue in previous materials. In short, the complex consists of an aeroballistic missile and a hypersonic unit, the carrier of which it is. According to unofficial data, the block speed can reach Mach 20.
The United States is actively testing promising weapons, which was confirmed by photographs taken last year. They show a mock-up of an ARRW rocket suspended under the B-52H-150-BW S / N 60-0036 strategic bomber, which took part in many other tests. ARRW is being developed under a $ 480 million contract that Lockheed Martin received in 2018. The work should be completed by December 2021. The US military expects to receive working samples of new hypersonic weapons in the first half of the 2020s, which, no doubt, will significantly strengthen the potential of the US Air Force.
And not only them. The Ground Forces and the US Navy intend to receive their hypersonic weapons. Moreover, all this should also happen in the foreseeable future. Recall that a Long Range Hypersonic Weapon is being created for the Army: a universal solid-propellant ground-based medium-range ballistic missile with a controlled gliding hypersonic warhead Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB). As far as the fleet is concerned, the concept is similar: a launch vehicle + a hypersonic unit. They want to equip multipurpose submarines of the fourth generation of the Virginia type with new weapons. At least some of them.
In general, the Pentagon's Napoleonic plans, together with very tight deadlines, give rise to a variety of questions. Are US plans realistic? Are they not well-disguised disinformation designed to drag opponents into a ruinous arms race?
After all, if you think about it, the United States can solve all the tactical tasks facing it with the already available means: that is, high-precision bombs and subsonic cruise missiles. Do Americans need such a complex and expensive complex as ARRW?
If we ignore the conspiracy theories, the only reasonable answer is to ensure the complete not only tactical, but also strategic dominance of the United States throughout the world. In this regard, the Americans can really use not only the new B-21, but also the old B-1B Lancer, each of which, as we already know, will be able to carry three dozen hypersonic missiles.
