A US Air Force B-1B test aircraft recently flew with a reconfigurable weapons pylon, enhancing its weapons load capacity by 50 percent.
The Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon is designed to carry a range of existing and emerging weapons with a seamless transition, the service stated in a press release.
It has been tested with a 2,000-pound (909 kilogram) GBU-31 in February and is qualified to carry a 5,000-pound (2,272 kilogram) GBU-72 Joint Direct Attack Munition advanced penetrator.
The B-1’s Conventional Weapons Role
According to Boeing, the pylon could carry weapons as heavy as 7,500 pounds (3,409 kilograms).
A B1 could carry 24 Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missiles (an air-breathing, air-launched weapon) internally and 12 on LAMs.
Similarly, it could theoretically carry 36 AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and an equal number of Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles.
It is pertinent for the B-1 as it was stripped of its nuclear role in 1994 following the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, with the physical conversion taking place between 2007 and 2011.
Hypersonic Testbed
Boeing pitched the LAM pylon-fitted B-1 idea to the US Air Force last year as a replacement for the B-52 bomber as a hypersonic testbed.
The B-52 has been used to test the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon.
Since then, however, the B-52 fleet has been reduced by eight aircraft due to scheduled upgrades and another dozen or so for repair and other requirements, creating a security issue, as the bomber has a nuclear deterrence role.
“The whole point of this … is for the B-1 to become the hypersonic testbed for the Air Force,” Air and Space Forces Magazine quoted Boeing’s director of bomber programs Jennifer Wong as saying in May last year.
“Because of all the modernization efforts on the B-52, we can actually not take away from what we’re doing on the B-52 today to have it test hypersonics,” Wong said. “So we will be doing hypersonics testing on the B-1.”
Load Adaptable Modular
Boeing developed the LAM with its own money while the air force shelled out some congressional add-on funds for its testing.
The air force said that the pylon could be modified for attachment with other aircraft as well.
Each pylon features adjustable mounts and two attach points that can be changed on the flightline based on the weapon type, according to Air and Space Forces Magazine.
