35 years of lethality: U.S. Air Force celebrates B-1’s history
By
Dylan Malyasov
Jun 30, 2020
Thirty-five years ago, the first B-1B Lancer long-range, multi-mission, supersonic conventional bomber was delivered to the U.S. Air Force.
On June 29th, 1985, at 1:55 PM, a B-1B nicknamed Star of Abilene was the first example of the bomber to land at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas as part of a delivery ceremony in front of an air show crowd of 45,000. Initial operational capability was reached on 1 October 1986 and the B-1B was placed on nuclear alert status.
Originally designed for nuclear capabilities, the B-1 switched to an exclusively conventional combat role in the mid-1990s. In 1999, during Operation Allied Force, six B-1s flew 2 percent of the strike missions, yet dropped 20 percent of the ordnance, and during Operation Enduring Freedom the B-1 flew on 2 percent of the sorties while dropping over 40 percent of the precision weapons. The B-1 has been nearly continuously deployed in combat operations over Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria since 2001.
https://defence-blog.com/news/35-years-of-lethality-u-s-air-force-celebrates-b-1s-history.html
