Summary and What You Need to Know: The U.S. Air Force is enhancing its aging B-1B Lancer bombers by testing new Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylons, which could significantly increase the aircraft's payload capacity.

Who Says Retire This Beast of a Bomber? The LAM pylons allow the B-1B to carry heavier and more versatile ordnance, including up to 24 Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missiles internally and 12 externally.

Father Time Is Calling: Though designed for the B-1B, the LAM could also be adapted for other aircraft. These upgrades demonstrate ongoing efforts to bolster the bomber's capabilities even as it approaches retirement in the mid-2030s.

Tests Conducted on the B-1 Bombers New Weapons Pylon

The U.S. Air Force's fleet of Rockwell B-1B Lancers will finally retire in the mid-2030s after nearly five decades in service. But even with sunset in sight, the air service continues to enhance the long-range bomber's capabilities, including its payload.

Recent reported upgrades have included modifications to internal bomb bays, as well as a rethink of external pylons that were designed to carry air-launched cruise missiles but were inactivated as part of the START treaty.

Since Moscow withdrew from that post-Cold War agreement, the U.S. Air Force has revisited the B-1B’s pylons. In recent years, the Air Force conducted tests with the Boeing-designed Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon, which could be used on all six of the bomber's hardpoints. Progress has moved forward, and the Air Force Global Strike Command announced this month that the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base recently conducted tests of the LAM pylon.

"The equipment recently flew attached to a B-1B Lancer test aircraft with the 419th Flight Test Squadron," the wing announced in a statement. "The unique pylon is designed to carry a variety of standard and emerging weapons with seamless transition, allowing for maximum agility while also strengthening weapon test infrastructure. While the B-1B was chosen due to aircraft availability at Edwards, the LAM can be modified for attachment to a variety of other aircraft if the need were to arise."

Increasing the B-1s Bomb Load

The LAM could allow the Cold War-era bomber to carry ordnance as heavy as 7,500 pounds (3,409 kilograms). It could greatly increase the total weapons payload, which could include up to 24 Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missiles carried internally in the bomb bays, along with an additional dozen on the 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," The Defense Post suggested.

A variety of ordnance has already been tested with the B-1B, including some munitions that might seem unexpected. The Aviationist reported in June that a B-1B Lancer was spotted by an aircraft photographer who snapped a photo of the bomber carrying the new GBU-72/B 5,000-pound bunker buster bomb.

Though the LAM was developed with the B-1 in mind, it could be used on other aircraft, greatly enhancing the type of ordnance that can be carried.

"LAM testing is one of several ways teams at Edwards are working with private industry to provide an innovative increase in test infrastructure," the 412th Test Wing added. "The overall test portfolio continues to rapidly increase during an era of Global Power Competition. The project also gives test professionals valuable experience in applying engineering and analysis objectives that could be applied to future programs."

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu 

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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