U.S. MAY ARM B-1B LANCER BOMBERS WITH 36 CRUISE MISSILES EACH

The US Air Force has succeeded in making a nuclear-capable B-1 bomber carry a cruise missile on its fuselage, paving the way for each plane to be armed with up to 36 long-range cruise missiles, Kyle Mizokami reported for Popular Mechanics.

If successful, just a dozen bombers would be able to bombard enemy targets with up to 432 missiles in wartime, he added. A recent flight test showed the B-1B Lancer bomber carrying a new Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) on an external pylon, thus increasing the number of missiles a single bomber can carry by up to 50 percent.

The B-1B was originally designed as a strategic nuclear bomber capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles on pylons mounted underneath the plane. The ability to mount pylons was a capability never actually used, and the plane was eventually converted to a non-nuclear bomber to comply with arms control treaty obligations.

Today, the B-1B is used as a jack-of-all-trades, long-range attack aircraft that's capable of sprinting to the aid of ground forces to drop bombs or launching cruise missiles. In April 2018, B-1Bs launched JASSM missiles against Syrian chemical weapons facilities in Syria. The AGM-158 JASSM air-to-ground cruise missile is one key weapon system of the new big-war pivot. Stealthy, precision-guided, and smart, the JASSM is able to penetrate modern air defenses and then deliver a powerful blow. The missiles are large, but recent upgrades to the B-1 bomber mean the “Bone” can now carry up to 24 JASSM missiles internally, in the big airplane’s two bomb bays. An advanced cruise missile can fly 1,100 miles to hit a target.