The B-1 Lancer bomber has played a major role in recent conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Boeing is helping to ensure it will be able to serve effectively for decades to come thanks to recently started network-centric upgrades to add new color displays, secure digital radios, moving maps and decision-aiding software.

The swing wing bomber’s superior performance comes from range, speed and loiter capabilities, with a large payload of modern conventional weapons. The structural design and relatively low flight hours on the airframe mean the B-1 is expected to last for another 40 years. The U.S. Air Force contracted with Boeing for the NCO upgrades so B-1 crews can capitalize on the plethora of information available in future conflicts and adapt to a role that has changed greatly from the B-1’s original mission.

The B-1 was designed in the 1970s to penetrate deep into hostile territory along rigidly planned routes know as the “black line” to deliver nuclear missiles. In 1992 at the end of the Cold War, the B-1 was modified to deliver GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAMS), the Joint Air to Surface Stand-off Missile and other conventional weapons.

B-1s have been dubbed “roving linebackers” because the large payload of weapons and fuel they carry lets them to loiter a long time waiting for targets to emerge. Currently, target coordinates are given to the crew verbally by secure radio. The crew transcribes the coordinates, determines the proper route and manually enters this information into the mission computers. Future targets will likely be more fleeting and distributed. The new weapons will be smaller and more accurate. For example, the B-1 will able to carry up to 96 Small Diameter Bombs Manually re-targeting 96 weapons in-flight against 96 targets would be overwhelming.

The B-1 needs to connect to the Global Information Grid for digital targeting and decision aiding. The digital connection will provide graphical situational awareness and textual tasking that will reduce the potential for error and free the crews up to perform other critical tasks. To that end, Boeing is under contract to the USAF to develop a series of B-1 Network Centric Upgrades. Engineers are currently working on the Threat Situational Awareness System to add a display architecture and four new color displays in the front crew station. They have also begun the Fully Integrated Datalink Program that adds an over-the-horizon secure UHF data link and brings Link-16 tactical data to the crew. It also adds five new color displays to the aft crew station.

The current Network Centric Upgrade programs like TSAS (Threat Situational Awareness System) and FIDL will be fielded in the next five years providing aircrews the tools to keep the B-1 the most valuable plane “MVP” in future conflicts for decades to come.