Two B-1 bombers operate northeast of Taiwan

[F-22Raptor]

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two B-1B supersonic, heavy bombers were reported cruising over the skies to the northeast of Taiwan on Wednesday (May 6), the third day this month they have patrolled the area.

The Twitter account Aircraft Spots at 3:44 p.m. on Wednesday announced that two variable-sweep wing B-1B Lancers took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to carry out a mission in the East China Sea. The post added that a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker also took part to provide inflight refueling.


Based on the map, the bombers flew over the waters off the coast of northeast Taiwan. Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Shih Shun-wen (史順文), told reporters that Taiwan's military was in full control of the country's sea and air space, without specifically mentioning the warplanes.

According to Aircraft Spots, this was the third time American B-1B bombers had flown missions near Taiwan's airspace this month. The previous two missions took place on Friday (May 1) and Monday (May 4).

The resumption of bomber missions by the U.S. Air Force is significant, as it suddenly withdrew its wing of B-52 bombers from Guam without notice on April 17. This abruptly ended a continuous presence of U.S. bombers on the base since 2004, stoking fears that the U.S. was pulling back from the region.

The explanation offered by U.S. Strategic Command spokesperson Kate Atanasoff that day was that it was shifting to a less predictable global deployment pattern. “In line with the National Defense Strategy, the United States has transitioned to an approach that enables strategic bombers to operate forward in the Indo-Pacific region from a broader array of overseas locations, when required, and with greater operational resilience, while these bombers are permanently based in the United States,” said Atanasoff, according to Stars and Stripes.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3929296

 

[vi-va]

B-1 Lancer readiness is in the toilet, here’s why
Only 6 of 61 US Air Force B-1B Strategic Bombers Are Fully Combat-Ready

B1B sucks, even US air force dislike it. B1B is not supersonic, nor stealthy. Variable-sweep wing is an outdated design, not reliable, maintenance is very expensive.

US would rather go with grandpa era B-52 instead of junk B1B. or maybe B21 which need at least more than a decade to start produce.

 

[F-22Raptor]

B-1 Lancer readiness is in the toilet, here’s why
Only 6 of 61 US Air Force B-1B Strategic Bombers Are Fully Combat-Ready

B1B sucks, even US air force dislike it. B1B is not supersonic, nor stealthy. Variable-sweep wing is an outdated design, not reliable, maintenance is very expensive.

US would rather go with grandpa era B-52 instead of junk B1B. or maybe B21 which need at least more than a decade to start produce.

“I have a very positive recovery for the B-1 community,” he said. “I have more flyable airplanes and ready crews than we’ve seen in many years.” While he would not discuss mission capable rates for the B-1, crews are generating “at least 25 flyable airplanes a day,” he said. That’s “more sorties in a month than we’ve seen in the last three or four years.” Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., flew 100 B-1 sorties last month—something the base had not done in a single month for several years, he noted.

“I’m sitting on a significantly larger number of mission-ready crews,” Ray added, saying there has been “good progress, good momentum. I couldn’t ask for better.”

https://www.airforcemag.com/ray-tou...e-hypersonics-b-1-recovery-end-of-bomber-cas/


The B-1 is highly capable bomber which can carry large numbers of advanced long range cruise and hypersonic missiles. A 4 ship B-1 strike package is capable of launching up to 96 antiship missiles and 24 hypersonic ARRWs. Enough firepower to wipe out Chinese naval groups.

And the B-21 began production last year.