The Air Force’s estimated $983 million upgrade package to the B-1, the largest modification program in the bomber’s history, is about delivering better information to the warfighter.
The first operational B-1B equipped with the Integrated Battle Station (IBS) upgrade was delivered to Dyess AFB, Texas, in January, according to an Air Force statement. The IBS is a combination of three different upgrades, which include a fully-integrated data link, a vertical situation display upgrade and a central integrated system upgrade. The upgrade package, contracted by Boeing [BA], is scheduled to last through 2019. Boeing also develops the B-1.
Air Force Col. Michael Starr, 7th bomb wing commander at Dyess, told Defense Daily Thursday the vertical situation display upgrade and central integrated system upgrade improve the displays in the aircraft. The Air Force is installing flat-panel, liquid crystal displays (LCD), updating the bombers from cathode ray tube displays like old monitors from the 1980s. Starr said this not only improves the quality of information displayed but also expands the type of information available because the LCD screens are more flexible than the old displays.
The data link upgrade, Starr said, enables B-1s to connect to what he called an internet for combat airplanes. Starr said this connectivity allows warfighters to push data around to different platforms, tap into data like threat information or targeting information from command and control (C2) platforms like the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (STARS) or the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Warfighters can push this information from computer to computer, Starr said, without it being facilitated via the mind and voice of an operator on the other end, which has the potential for mistakes and miscommunication.
The upgrade package, which Starr called the last major upgrade for the B-1 currently planned and funded, is expected to extend the B-1’s service life through 2040, when the Air Force should start rolling out its new, highly-anticipated bomber known as the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB). Starr said the B-1 upgrade package fits into the Air Force’s narrative of future air operations being waged in contested environments because he said the range at which you can detect a threat is somewhat limited to what you can visually see, even from an altitude of 20,000 feet. Starr said the network part of the upgrade is allowing the pilot to see what the next airplane can view.
“So in a highly-contested environment with a wide array of threats that may be beyond what I can see from my own onboard system, I can see what any of the other airplanes can see, and they can see what I see…so we can put together a more complete picture of the threats that are facing us with that information,” Starr said.
Starr said the Air Force’s entire fleet of B-1s will receive the upgrade package. The first upgraded aircraft arrived at Dyess in January for test and evaluation squadron. The second, Starr said, will be there later in March and the field and evaluation squadron will develop a fielding recommendation, which Starr said is important to the process, as well as techniques and tactics that will be used to teach the rest of the force. Starr said the Air Force is prepared to support a combat deployment with the upgraded B-1s as early as fall 2016. Of the 65 total B-1s in fleet, Starr said 33 at Dyess AFB are flight-ready.
Part of the United States’ air-based leg of the nuclear triad that includes the B-2 and B-52, Starr said the B-1 provides increased speed and weapons carriage capacity compared to the other two aircraft fleets. Starr said the B-1 also allows the Air Force to integrate more effectively while in a package including both bombers and fighter jets. Though the service hasn’t integrated in such a package in a while, Starr said the Air Force would have to fly such a formation in highly-contested airspace, which makes the B-1 relevant for the service’s future.
Boeing spokeswoman Jennifer Hogan said Thursday the third B-1 slated for upgrades has completed modification and is halfway through its checkout process. Hogan added the fourth B-1 is currently in modification.