The US Air Force Global Strike Command completed the planned retirement of 17 B-1B bombers as the last aircraft departed Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 23.
While the final airframe flew to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, other bombers found second purposes. The first became a ground integration lab at Edwards Air Force Base, and the second will serve as a maintenance training platform at Tinker Air Force Base.
One bomber went to Wichita, Kansas, at the National Institute for Aviation Research for digital mapping, and one went to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, as a static display for the Barksdale Global Power museum.
The remaining 13 aircraft will be stored at the boneyard at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB in Type 4000 storage. Four of those will remain in a reclaimable condition that is consistent with Type 2000 recallable storage.
The divestiture of the 17 aircraft this year is in support of the United States Air Force’s efforts to modernize America’s bomber fleet, as authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act.
“The divesture plan was executed very smoothly,” Brig. Gen. Kenyon Bell, AFGSC Director of Logistics and Engineering, said. “With fewer aircraft in the B-1 fleet, maintainers will be able to give more time and attention to each aircraft remaining in the fleet.”
The 17 B-1B aircraft were retired from a fleet of 62, leaving 45 in the active inventory.
“Beginning to retire these legacy bombers allows us to pave the way for the B-21 Raider,” Bell said. “Continuous operations over the last 20 years have taken a toll on our B-1B fleet, and the aircraft we retired would have taken between 10 and 30 million dollars per aircraft to get back to a status quo fleet in the short term until the B-21 comes online.”
The Air Force is transitioning from three bombers to two – a rebuilt B-52 and next-generation B-21. The service already has five B-21 airframes in various stages of assembly.
