For educational purposes
The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force.
It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One") as of 2024, it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Spirit and the B-52 Stratofortress.
It is a heavy bomber with up to a 75,000-pound (34,000 kg) of payload.
The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force.
It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One") as of 2024, it is one of the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Spirit and the B-52 Stratofortress.
It is a heavy bomber with up to a 75,000-pound (34,000 kg) of payload.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Thank you for listening.
00:30Thank you for listening.
01:00Diamond-edged guillotines break the backs of these winged cold warriors.
01:06Just outside of Tucson, Arizona, B-52 carcasses are displayed for the Russian satellites to witness.
01:13America's strategic bomber force once numbered more than a thousand.
01:19Today there are less than 200 bombers left in the Air Force.
01:23Nearly 70 of these are the surviving B-52s.
01:30Around 100 more are the newer B-1Bs.
01:33Designed to fight World War III, both carry on the strategic bomber legacy reinvented for the post-Cold War world.
01:49Right now, a B-1 on the deck, scared and running, is arguably the fastest airplane in the world down low.
01:58Anything that might see it is going to have to get down on the deck and chase it, and that's going to be a very difficult thing.
02:04It's probably the largest roller coaster ride that anyone could probably ever go on.
02:11I get to do it for free.
02:13Not too long ago, its sole mission was to carry up to two dozen nuclear bombs to the heart of Mother Russia.
02:23Each of them 25 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima.
02:28Now, B-1 crews spend most of their time preparing to deliver a non-nuclear munition anywhere on the globe in a moment's notice.
02:41Typically, this intercontinental weapon strikes from 500 feet at more than 900 miles per hour.
02:48By combining these factors of low observability, great weapons capability, and fantastic command control communications,
02:59along with high speed and long range, you have a potential war winner.
03:04Something that would allow you to go and do with one aircraft what took a dozen F-117s on the first night of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
03:13In 1991, when war sent America's most elite strike fighters to the Persian Gulf, America's newest bomber was left behind.
03:25After five years preparing to carry out a nuclear strike, crews and planes were simply not ready for the fast-paced, precision-planned conventional operation.
03:36Critics used its absence in the Gulf to prove the machine a flying waste of taxpayer money.
03:48They said that this nuclear bomber, an ineffective product of 1970s technology, just didn't fit in the post-Cold War world.
03:58Months after desert storm, the bomb, as its crews call it, was reconfigured to carry 84 500-pound conventional bombs.
04:17We were trying to hit things down to single digits.
04:29We had frankly something to prove.
04:31You know, the B-1 was capable of bombing in a real small accuracy.
04:37They're now part of the rest of the force.
04:40Being nuclear always has meant that you're carved off and you're put in a corner and you're somehow different or special.
04:48And being different and special is not always a good thing in the military.
04:52Now, bomber crews, they get to go and play with the fighter guys and the electronic warfare guys.
04:58Okay, good morning, crews. This is the pre-brief for tomorrow's sorties.
05:01We'll go through the...
05:02They're going to destroy something and they can come home and maybe feel a little better about it.
05:05They get to be part of the team for the first time.
05:08If you do have any schedule changes, please get with us so we can get those in the schedule.
05:12The B-1 is more suited for the package rule because of the fact of our speed.
05:16And we can go in there, we can go low, we can go high, and we can either lead the formation out or we can flow in the formation or we can lag behind the formation.
05:24Okay, weather for tomorrow.
05:25Got locally rain, thunderstorms in the vicinity, 1,000 foot...
05:28And they can do it in the worst kind of weather, even under conditions approaching zero visibility.
05:36Here, at Dias Air Force Base, Texas, B-1 crews set off every day to prove that the bone is a formidable asset.
05:46One that fits well in today's Air Force doctrine of extending American power globally.
05:51The real area that's emerging is integrated strike operations with other aircraft formed together in guerrilla packages or task forces where you'll have B-1s matched up with F-15s, F-16s, F-15s, Strike Eagles, all formed up to go after a common package of targets.
06:14They actually are there to protect us because they know the ordnance that we have and the destruction capability that we have.
06:22So if they lose one B-1, it's very significant.
06:26Carrying a 50,000 pound payload and only radars, chaff, and flare to defend itself, the B-1 is ready.
06:36Havoc zero five, rate back is correct, contact tower ready for departure.
06:41F-15s, take off.
06:44Deporture frequency will be 239.05.
06:50With its variable geometry wings fully outstretched and the engines flooding with JP-4, the bone rises off the tarmac in West Texas.
07:01Moments after launch, the B-1 takes on nearly 200,000 pounds of fuel from a waiting tanker.
07:20With a full fuel load, the B-1 has a range of over 7,000 miles at a cruising altitude of 25,000 feet.
07:33Aerial refueling means it can sustain flight for as long as the four-person crew can last in the cockpit.
07:45And although the plane is half the length of a football field, its cramped cabin is no larger than four telephone booths.
07:54The personalities fit in the cockpit, regardless of how they are.
08:00If you're asking do they have some kind of a jock mentality, I don't see that.
08:04Because of the fact that we don't allow that pretty much on the crew, because we are four people coming together as one cohesive unit.
08:10So if one person is a little bit different than the others, we'll try to conform them to fit into our little cohesive unit, if you will.
08:24The pilot and co-pilot sit up front.
08:30The offensive and defensive systems officers in a separate compartment about six feet behind them.
08:37The offensive systems officer, his job is to get the switches configured and get the INS configured and everything,
08:43so he can drop bombs the most accurate way he can.
08:46On the other hand, the DSO is primarily concerned with threats in the target area.
08:50And if you think about it, where are we going to strike?
08:52We're not going to go strike somewhere that probably is not defended.
08:54So his job is going to be busy.
08:56My job is going to be busy.
08:57And the pilots have to kind of juggle the two of us, because we're kind of separated at the time.
09:01I've got to get the bombs on target, but the D's got to defend the aircraft.
09:07The B-1's payload is meant to strike at the very heart of the enemy's war machine.
09:17Munitions factories, command centers, bunkers.
09:22Targets typically located deep behind enemy lines.
09:26Usually if we go into a target area, the target area is going to be saturated.
09:31Not only ground threats, but air-to-air threats.
09:35So this is where things start getting a little intense.
09:42The B-1 cruising altitude is well within the range of enemy interceptors and surface-to-air missiles.
09:55This is the warning that an enemy aircraft has been spotted 25 miles away on the defensive system officer screen.
10:02Before the enemy fighter closes in for the kill, the B-1 pilot points the aircraft 20 degrees nose down, puts it in terrain-following mode, and lets go of the stick.
10:17With its wings swept back, the plane drops from 25,000 feet to 500 in less than a minute.
10:23You're sitting there with your hands by your side, watching this airplane head towards the ground.
10:30And you're just concentrating on that scope.
10:33Is this airplane doing what it's supposed to?
10:35The B-1 is doing what it must to survive.
10:42Once spotted by the fighter's radar, the unarmed bomber is as good as dead.
10:48The crew's best bet is to hide the 400,000-pound jet in the ground clutter below.
10:53You don't have to completely defeat the threat.
10:56You just have to momentarily defeat the threat.
10:59By yourself, a couple seconds here and a couple seconds there.
11:02The bomber's greatest defense is its ability to hug the deck and slip beneath enemy radar at near supersonic speed.
11:11We use the terrain to our advantage when we're low.
11:14Like if you were water, where would you flow, you know?
11:17And you use that terrain to get yourself buried in there as best you can.
11:25Making the B-1 resemble a catfish, the fins on the aircraft's nose help stabilize it at low levels.
11:34Flying a few hundred feet off the ground, frequently at night, pilots count on the terrain-following radar.
11:41We're in the direction of the ship.
11:43We're in the direction of the ship.
11:47The radar's ability to detect drastic changes in the terrain ten miles ahead of the aircraft prevents the plane from hitting the dirt.
11:58However critical to survival, radar sensors can also give away the bone's position.
12:04Once in the battle area, B-1 crews turn off any unnecessary electronics to reduce its footprint.
12:11The plane's unguided iron bombs are little changed from those used by World War II airmen, but the systems used to aim them are.
12:27Here, the offensive radar takes over.
12:29The navigator bombardier uses a radar-generated map to guide the pilots to the target.
12:38Because the B-1 travels faster than the human eye can focus a bomb sight, the bombardier relies on a computer to release the bombs at the right place and time.
12:49If I drop this bomb right now, where will it go?
12:54And if it says, I'm not going to get any closer than right now, then it will go ahead and release.
12:58So the system is constantly updating itself at a very fast rate.
13:01Hitting the bullseye means calculating wind direction, speed, and timing perfectly.
13:09Seconds too late or too soon, and their payload can sail hundreds of feet off target.
13:18In just three seconds, the plane releases 84 bombs in a perfect line.
13:24The shack, zero-zero, center bomb on the target.
13:28Probably 1% of the time, maybe, the shack occurs.
13:33I call it luck, but that's what we all want to get.
13:35That's what we strive for, and that's what we train for.
13:38But for many B-1 crews, close is good enough.
13:42Even up to 50 feet off the target, the string of exploding 500-pound dumb bombs
13:58leaves a charred scar a third of a mile long and 100 feet across.
14:03After four hours in the cockpit, the pilots return to a 10-knot crosswind on the runway.
14:26When you're coming in and trying to land with a crosswind or gusty winds,
14:29it's particularly challenging because a big gust of wind can come along
14:33just as you're at a very slow airspeed and high angle of attack,
14:35just trying to touch down, and that gust of wind blows the airplane.
14:45For the men and women at Dias Air Force Base,
14:48today's mission was a typical day at the office.
14:52This wasn't always the case.
15:031977, after sinking nearly 10 years and millions of dollars into the first B-1,
15:11an Air Force study determined that 60% of the B-1 force
15:15would be downed by Soviet air defenses before ever reaching the target.
15:20Critics claimed that the bone could not jam modern Soviet radar defenses
15:32in order to penetrate enemy airspace.
15:35President Jimmy Carter canceled the program.
15:42And here it is, ladies and gentlemen,
15:44the most advanced strategic aircraft in the world, the B-1B.
15:48But just four years later, the bone was resurrected.
15:51Some say that by 1981, the $20 billion bomber program
15:56fit well into the Reagan administration's effort
15:59to spend the USSR into oblivion.
16:03Just as important, it was the only airplane available
16:07to replace America's aging strategic workhorse,
16:11the B-52 Stratofortress.
16:13Nearly 30 years old, the 52 was an elderly veteran
16:19that many said wouldn't survive the 80s.
16:25Today, it flies on as the oldest aircraft in the Air Force inventory.
16:33It is projected to serve to the year 2030 in the conventional role.
16:39But like the B-1, it too can be reconfigured
16:43for its doomsday mission in just a few hours.
16:46A mission that even today,
16:48American pilots still quietly train for.
16:55The nuclear mission, yeah, you had that big long track line
16:58that might go on for four and five hours,
17:01page after page on this chart.
17:02And sometimes it was, that was all you saw
17:05was a track line and train in a few towns here and there.
17:09And sometimes you had no clue where it was.
17:13One black line, one bomber, one target.
17:17A scenario repeated by thousands of pilots.
17:21Together, it is the SIOP,
17:23the Single Integrated Operational Plan.
17:28First designed in 1960,
17:31it envisioned a day when scores of American nuclear bombers
17:34and missiles would be sent to hit countless targets
17:38across mainland China and the USSR.
17:42The man most credited with engineering America's doomsday machine
17:46was General Curtis LeMay,
17:48the first commander-in-chief of the nation's nuclear arsenal,
17:53known as SAC, or Strategic Air Command.
17:55It was under his guidance that American bombers burnt Tokyo to the ground
18:04and ultimately brought Japan to its knees during World War II.
18:10Some claim that during the years that followed,
18:13at the height of the Cold War,
18:15General LeMay would encourage Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy
18:18to unleash a bolt-out-of-the-blue,
18:22full-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.
18:28General LeMay, he was the first legitimate
18:32and righteous purveyor of megadeth.
18:35This is a man who,
18:36before there was ever a nuclear weapon put in his arsenal,
18:40had probably killed
18:41or ordered the death of several million people,
18:44be they Germans, Italians, Japanese,
18:47during the Second World War.
18:49And one has to wonder
18:50if the experience did not desensitize him
18:52so that he was able to rationalize megadeth
18:57and still be able to sleep at night.
19:00LeMay's fervor became the standard
19:03for the bomber pilots under his command.
19:06I'm sure that STRATCOM
19:08in their various personality performance profiling tests and such
19:12looked for people who could go ahead
19:14and deal with the potential horrors
19:16of a Polish holocaust world.
19:19I mean, that they could go do their missions
19:21and be able to go
19:24drop a weapon of unthinkable power
19:30on potentially a large population center
19:32and then walk away
19:34and try and continue their life.
19:36We had a mission and we performed it
19:38and we told our families very little
19:40about what we really did.
19:42and others, they knew generally what we did.
19:45We never discussed with them
19:46targets or mission or any of that.
19:50You just couldn't humanly think about it
19:5224 hours a day, 7 days a week.
19:55As recently as 1991,
19:58SAC bomber crews sat
20:00in a round-the-clock vigil near their planes,
20:03fully loaded with nuclear bombs,
20:05waiting for the warning
20:06that World War III was under way.
20:13The idea was
20:15if Russian missiles
20:16did penetrate American airspace,
20:19all bombers had to be airborne
20:21in 15 minutes
20:22or be dead.
20:26Three, two, one,
20:29key turn.
20:30During the Cold War,
20:38the United States practiced redundancy.
20:41The first line of defense
20:43was the intercontinental ballistic missile,
20:46some carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads each.
20:50The next leg of the triad
20:52was the bomber force.
20:54No matter what the other side did,
20:57whether they launched
20:58a surprise attack
20:59against our missile sites,
21:00they would still have
21:01our airplanes to contend with.
21:06For 34 years,
21:09bomber crews sat alert
21:10in facilities like this one
21:12at Dias Air Force Base.
21:15At one time,
21:16there were more than
21:17100 such compounds.
21:21Major T.J. Smith
21:22spent nearly two years
21:23of his life here
21:24waiting for the klaxon to sound,
21:27the signal that Russian missiles
21:28were on their way.
21:31Crews lived underground
21:32for added protection
21:34in the event of a nuclear attack.
21:37This was my room
21:38for a good number of years,
21:42but we generally had
21:44one person per room.
21:47We had one airplane on alert,
21:49so we had four B-1 crew members.
21:52Now, B-1 crews
21:54practice the nuclear mission
21:56just once a month.
21:58The alert facility
21:59is surrounded
22:00by a 10-foot-high electric fence
22:02and microwave sensors.
22:05Probably the overwhelming thing
22:06that I remember the most
22:07about alert
22:08was the security
22:09that went around it,
22:11getting in and out
22:12of the area,
22:13just into the facility,
22:15in and out to your airplane.
22:17Security was the utmost.
22:18The guards looked like
22:21they were ready
22:21to throw you down
22:22and beat you up
22:23at a moment's notice.
22:27Then up this ramp,
22:29after the klaxon went off,
22:31we'd run out this way
22:32and head out to the parking spot
22:34where our airplane was located.
22:37Sensors were dug into the runway,
22:39and it was made
22:41an electronic field here.
22:42So if you broke the plane
22:44with this electronic field,
22:45then the security police
22:47would respond to the airplane.
22:49About once every alert tour,
22:51you'd have a jackrabbit
22:52or a dog
22:53would come out through here
22:54and break the sensor.
22:55And once that happened,
22:57the security police
22:58would come and respond,
23:00and then the crew
23:00would have to come out
23:01and check the airplane
23:02to make sure everything was okay.
23:04And it always happened
23:05between 2 to 4 in the morning.
23:07So we had some late nights
23:10every once in a while
23:11trying to calm everybody down.
23:15Planes also had to be
23:16hair-trigger ready.
23:18We could place the aircraft
23:19into an alert configuration
23:21by running all the normal
23:23pre-flight systems checks,
23:25get them into a code 1 status.
23:28At that time,
23:28we could take the APU switches,
23:30the auxiliary power units,
23:31which has put them
23:32into the alert configuration
23:33along with the battery,
23:34raise the ladder up,
23:36and now the jet's going to be ready
23:37to respond.
23:37All we have to do
23:38is come down,
23:38hit the alert start,
23:40and the engines will be ready
23:41to start in about 30 seconds.
23:48Until 1991,
23:50the klaxon would sound
23:51three times a week,
23:53sending crews in a race
23:54for their lives
23:55to get the aircraft
23:56off the ground.
23:58Until the men reached
23:59the cockpit
24:00and decoded an incoming message
24:02from SAC headquarters,
24:03they had no way of knowing
24:05whether or not the alert
24:06was real.
24:13In 1960,
24:15Ovidio Pugnalli,
24:16a B-52 navigator,
24:18accepted the mission
24:19that could take him away
24:20forever.
24:2226 years later,
24:24his son,
24:24Mark Pugnalli,
24:25a B-1 pilot,
24:26accepts the same mission.
24:28You know,
24:29as a young crew member,
24:31you know,
24:31you'd already heard
24:32about this,
24:33and my dad said alert
24:35and flew P-52s,
24:37and they don't bring
24:38the mission home
24:38and tell you a lot.
24:41You know,
24:41with the klaxon blue,
24:43we were in a good poker game,
24:45and we'd quick count the money,
24:46you know,
24:47and everybody had to take
24:48their cards with them,
24:49you know,
24:49and you'd come back,
24:50and say,
24:50don't leave the cards
24:51on the table.
24:51when you came back,
24:52you may not have
24:52the same hand
24:53that when you left.
24:54So that always concerned us.
25:01The plane that
25:02Lieutenant Ovidio Pugnalli
25:03depended on
25:04to carry him
25:05into World War III
25:06was a B-52D.
25:12Typically,
25:13it was loaded
25:14with four
25:15one-megaton bombs.
25:17Today's B-52
25:18can carry up
25:18to 20 such bombs.
25:21Each more than
25:2225 times
25:23the power
25:24of the two weapons
25:25that leveled
25:26Hiroshima
25:26and Nagasaki.
25:32The first bomb
25:34dropped on Hiroshima
25:35was 13 kilotons.
25:37The second
25:38dropped on Nagasaki
25:39a little over 20.
25:42Captain Kermit Behan,
25:43bombardier over Nagasaki,
25:45recalls his greatest moment.
25:47I suppose it was
25:49when the clouds
25:50opened up over the target,
25:51at Nagasaki.
25:53The target was there
25:54pretty as a picture.
25:56I made the run,
25:57let the bomb go.
25:59That was my greatest thrill.
26:04Over 100,000 lives lost.
26:09Nearly 10 square miles
26:12of thriving cities
26:13turned into rubble.
26:15It's funny we say
26:19only 20 kilotons
26:20because, you know,
26:22when we dropped
26:24those two weapons,
26:25we dropped those
26:26on medium-sized,
26:27fairly crowded urban
26:29complexes in Japan.
26:31And we killed,
26:32in those two cities,
26:33maybe 150,000,
26:34200,000 people
26:35if you include
26:35the secondary effects.
26:37Now, that's with a pair
26:38of 20 kiloton devices.
26:39The average weapon
26:42that we run around
26:43with today
26:43is a 500 kiloton device.
26:47That is 25 times
26:50bigger than the one
26:52we dropped
26:53on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
26:57The original atom bomb
26:58weighed in
26:59at 8,900 pounds
27:01and required five men
27:03and a hoisting rig
27:04to cram it
27:05into the B-29 bomb bay.
27:07When the thermonuclear weapon
27:09came out,
27:11then I think
27:12thoughtful people
27:13began to ask,
27:16is this a weapon of war
27:18or, as Eisenhower said,
27:21is it a form of insanity?
27:24A decade of innovative
27:27American engineering
27:28gave birth
27:29to the thermonuclear weapon,
27:31a greater bang
27:32in a smaller package.
27:34By 1960,
27:36this government effort
27:37to miniaturize Megadeth
27:39paralleled another
27:41to convince American citizens
27:43that nuclear war
27:44is survivable.
27:46Dump, dump,
27:47deedle, dum, dump,
27:49deedle, dum, dump,
27:50deedle, dum, dump.
27:52There was a turtle
27:54by the name of Bert,
27:56and Bert the turtle
27:57was very alert.
27:59When danger threatened him,
28:01he never got hurt.
28:02He knew just what to do.
28:05He's duck,
28:06shh,
28:07and cover.
28:09Duck, shh,
28:10and cover.
28:12Duck, shh,
28:12I remember as a child
28:13growing up,
28:14of course,
28:15the duck and cover exercises.
28:18The little turtle
28:19doing his duck
28:19and cover routine.
28:20Now,
28:21we must be ready
28:22for a new danger,
28:24the atomic bomb.
28:26It is such a big explosion,
28:28it can smash in buildings
28:29and knock sign boards over
28:30and break windows
28:31all over town.
28:33But,
28:33if you duck and cover
28:35like Bert,
28:36you will be much safer.
28:38We look upon those
28:39as humorous today.
28:40At the time,
28:41they were deadly serious.
28:42It's a bomb.
28:43Duck and cover.
28:45The effects of a
28:48500 kiloton weapon today,
28:50properly delivered,
28:51the fireball alone
28:53would probably cover
28:55the whole of Manhattan Island
28:58if it was dropped
28:59from downtown New York.
29:00As American citizens
29:07practiced to save themselves
29:08from the pending shower
29:10of nuclear bombs
29:11and missiles,
29:12American pilots
29:13studied every town,
29:15hill and bridge
29:15in the Soviet Union
29:17and Red China.
29:18For the bomber crew,
29:20nuclear war
29:20is not about
29:21how to survive it.
29:23It is about
29:24endless hours of study
29:26to guarantee
29:26that your enemy doesn't.
29:30In 1961,
29:32Bob Kramer was a
29:33SAC pilot
29:34at the helm
29:35of a B-47.
29:36But you only had
29:37one target.
29:39That target
29:40was your specialty.
29:41You knew that target
29:42like you knew
29:43the back of your hand.
29:45And most of the stuff,
29:45because we studied it
29:46so often,
29:47it was like
29:48knowing your kid.
29:51At the height
29:52of the Cold War,
29:53a worldwide launch
29:54of SAC bombers
29:55would have sent
29:56a total of 1,500 planes
29:58airborne,
29:59mostly B-47.
30:00stratojets.
30:02By the late 1950s,
30:04the American bomber force
30:06was built around
30:061,000 of these
30:08shiny Boeing machines.
30:11The PSYOP
30:12called for several
30:14aircraft to hit
30:14the same target
30:15at precisely
30:16timed intervals.
30:19Ours was not
30:20going to be
30:20the only weapon
30:21on any one
30:22specific target.
30:24They had
30:24a redundancy factor
30:26built in.
30:26By the time I got
30:29to my target,
30:30for instance,
30:30it could have had
30:3115 or 20
30:32or 30
30:32nuclear devices
30:34delivered on it.
30:35Let's have an
30:35interphone check.
30:36There was some
30:37question,
30:38because of the
30:39destruction that
30:39would be done
30:40to the target,
30:41that we could even
30:41find the target area
30:42once we got there.
30:45Strategic targets
30:46are defined
30:47as anything
30:48that is part of
30:48the enemy's
30:49war-making capability.
30:50As a crew dog,
30:52I was given
30:53the targets,
30:53but we were
30:54never told
30:55that we were
30:56doing a strike
30:58against populated
30:59areas just for
31:00the effect.
31:01They were
31:01military-hardened
31:03targets,
31:04is what we
31:05went after.
31:07Unfortunately,
31:08the military
31:08industrial complexes
31:09are in population
31:10centers.
31:11I mean,
31:11look at the
31:12Pentagon,
31:12for instance.
31:13That's in a
31:13population center.
31:14To reach their
31:21target,
31:21the crews
31:22had to fly
31:23higher and
31:23faster than
31:24the latest
31:25Soviet air
31:25defenses.
31:30As the first
31:31swept-wing
31:32all-jet bomber,
31:34the B-47
31:34stratojet
31:35sustained flight
31:37at 600 miles
31:38an hour
31:38and 40,000 feet
31:40where no
31:41Soviet fighter
31:42could touch it.
31:44Defying the
31:45stereotype that
31:46bombers are
31:47flying dump
31:48trucks,
31:48B-47 pilots
31:50even practiced
31:51a fighter-like
31:51tactic to
31:52guarantee a
31:53safe escape
31:54from the
31:54nuclear bomb
31:55blast and
31:56the almost
31:56seismic
31:57aftershock.
32:00A tactic
32:01that they
32:01used,
32:02which they
32:02called a
32:03labs maneuver,
32:04and it stood
32:04for low-altitude
32:06ballistic
32:06something or
32:07the other.
32:09The airplane
32:10actually came
32:11in at low
32:11level.
32:12It pulled up
32:13and did what
32:14we refer to
32:14to as an
32:15Immelman,
32:16where when
32:16the airplane
32:16got to
32:17about this
32:17point,
32:18it would
32:18release the
32:19weapon.
32:19Of course,
32:19the trajectory
32:20of the
32:20weapon would
32:21take it
32:21in a
32:21parabolic arc
32:22to the
32:22target,
32:23and we
32:23would pull
32:24the airplane
32:24up and
32:25then roll
32:25it out.
32:26And that
32:27was to
32:29avoid the
32:30blast effects
32:31of the
32:31weapon and
32:32so forth.
32:34The B-47
32:34swept-wing
32:36design,
32:37compact,
32:37110-foot-long
32:39body,
32:39and speed
32:40made this
32:41tactic possible.
32:42But the
32:44G-forces
32:44required to
32:45carry it
32:46out stressed
32:47the bomber's
32:47frame until
32:48cracks in the
32:49fuselage finally
32:50doomed the
32:51maneuver.
32:54Tactics aside,
32:56there was no
32:56way to
32:57completely escape
32:58from the
32:58deadly mass
32:59rising from
33:00the impact
33:01area.
33:01the mushroom
33:07cloud of a
33:08one-megaton
33:09bomb reaches
33:10up 40,000
33:11feet and
33:12can spread
33:13over an
33:13area of
33:14hundreds of
33:15square miles.
33:19Advanced
33:20techniques make
33:21it possible for
33:21these train
33:22crews to fly
33:23through the
33:24cloud without
33:25harm, even
33:26to stay inside
33:27of it for a
33:27while, if they
33:28observe the
33:29precautions taught
33:30by experience.
33:33It was almost a
33:33standing joke.
33:34To begin with,
33:35you're flying in a
33:36nuclear and
33:36radioactive
33:37environment.
33:39The air
33:39conditioning in
33:39the airplane
33:40basically came
33:41from the
33:41engines, and
33:43we were taking
33:44in outside air.
33:46If the outside
33:47air is radioactive,
33:48it's coming into
33:48the airplane and
33:49into the
33:50pressurization
33:50system.
33:52Any aircraft
33:52that has been
33:53used for cloud
33:54sampling or cloud
33:55tracking operations
33:56will carry traces
33:57of radiological
33:58contamination.
34:00The air
34:00force has only
34:01recently developed
34:02a method of
34:03washing contaminated
34:03planes, which
34:05makes them safe
34:05and ready for
34:06service within
34:0724 hours.
34:10This is an
34:11airborne laboratory
34:12with a staff of
34:13doctors to test
34:15the effects of
34:16the bomb's
34:17initial light on
34:18the human eye.
34:19Out of this
34:20experiment will
34:21come considerable
34:22specific knowledge
34:23about protection.
34:25We wore an eye
34:26patch.
34:26so the co-pilot
34:29was not flying
34:30the airplane,
34:31had his peephole
34:31open, he
34:32covered one eye
34:34with an eye
34:35patch.
34:36I said,
34:36well, why?
34:37I said, well,
34:37if a weapon did
34:39go off, it would
34:39blind both your
34:40eyes.
34:41Well, in this
34:41case, it would
34:42only blind one
34:43eye, you see.
34:45So you said,
34:46well, I've been
34:46blinded in one eye
34:47and you just
34:48calmly took the
34:49patch and, you
34:50know, and then,
34:50of course, you
34:50could take it off
34:51so you had
34:52one eye left.
34:54Officially, SAC
34:56crews were told
34:57to make their
34:57way to safe
34:58areas in Turkey
34:59or North Africa
35:00after unloading
35:01their bombs.
35:03Privately, they
35:04believed that if
35:05the worst ever
35:06became a reality,
35:07theirs would be
35:08a one-way mission.
35:10Yes, we had
35:11safe areas.
35:12I don't know
35:13if we ever
35:14thought that we
35:14would get to
35:15those safe areas
35:15or if that was
35:17something psychological
35:18that they told us
35:19or something
35:20happened, you
35:20know, you'll
35:22get into these
35:22safe areas there
35:23and there's
35:23going to be a
35:24McDonald's there
35:25and somebody's
35:26going to be there
35:26to comfort you
35:27and that sort
35:28of thing.
35:30And that's
35:30where we started.
35:31We'll just land
35:32at some island
35:33and take the
35:33island over and
35:34just camp out
35:35for a couple
35:35years and, you
35:36know, then just
35:36show up later
35:37in life.
35:38After three or
35:39four years on
35:40alert and going
35:42through the same
35:42exercise over and
35:44over again, you
35:46just didn't think
35:48that much of it
35:49anymore until it
35:50came, you know,
35:501962 to the
35:52Cuban crisis.
35:53Then we thought
35:54a lot.
35:55We were scared.
35:56I was.
35:59September 8th,
36:011962.
36:02A Soviet ship
36:03loaded with
36:04medium-range
36:05ballistic missiles
36:06arrives in
36:07communist Cuba,
36:0890 miles away
36:09from U.S.
36:10shores.
36:12The missiles can
36:13annihilate
36:14Washington, D.C.,
36:15New York,
36:16and most of the
36:17eastern seaboard
36:18in one strike.
36:20To Soviet
36:21chairman Nikita
36:22Khrushchev,
36:23putting the many
36:24medium-range missiles
36:25within striking
36:26distance of the U.S.
36:27balances out the
36:29formidable American
36:30ICBM arsenal.
36:32American
36:32intercontinental
36:33ballistic missiles
36:34are far more
36:35numerous and
36:36reliable than their
36:37Soviet counterparts.
36:38before the nation is
36:42informed,
36:43SAC leadership
36:44deploys nearly 700
36:45bombers and their
36:47crews to the
36:48southeastern United
36:48States under the
36:50guise of a
36:50preplanned exercise.
36:52the Navy amasses ships
36:58and men in Florida
36:59in what would be the
37:01largest amphibious
37:02invasion since
37:03World War II.
37:06Aboard his B-47,
37:08Lieutenant Bob
37:09Kramer and his
37:10crew move from
37:11Little Rock Air
37:12Base to Memphis
37:13Naval Air Station,
37:14part of an effort
37:15to disperse the
37:16force in the event
37:17of a Russian attack.
37:19A member of my
37:20crew called me and
37:22said, something's up,
37:23I'll be by to pick
37:24you up in 30 minutes.
37:26Everything was very
37:27hush-hush, we weren't
37:28allowed to call home.
37:30I had a question
37:31about the safety
37:32of my family, but I
37:34figured that this was
37:37going to be a one-way
37:38mission for me, I was
37:39never going to come
37:40back from it.
37:42The question in my
37:43mind at the time was
37:44how many missiles could
37:46they put in there,
37:46how many targets
37:47could they strike?
37:49I guess I just had
37:50some big questions.
37:51I mean, we had
37:51missiles stationed in
37:53forward areas, targeted
37:54against the Russians,
37:56so to me it was more
37:58or less tit for tat,
37:59and I couldn't imagine
38:01anybody being foolish
38:02enough to use anything
38:03like that.
38:05To halt this offensive
38:06build-up, a strict
38:08quarantine on all
38:09offensive military
38:10equipment under shipment
38:12to Cuba is being
38:13initiated.
38:14All ships of any kind
38:16bound to Cuba, from
38:18whatever nation or port
38:19where they're found to
38:21contain cargoes of
38:22offensive weapons be
38:23turned back, shall be
38:25the policy of this
38:26nation to regard any
38:28nuclear missile launched
38:30from Cuba against any
38:31nation in the western
38:32hemisphere as an attack
38:34by the Soviet Union on
38:36the United States,
38:37requiring a full
38:39retaliatory response upon
38:41the Soviet Union.
38:42The naval blockade is
38:44Kennedy's tripwire, and
38:46the penalty for crossing
38:47it is an airborne armada
38:49heading for far more than
38:51just the Soviet Union.
38:53The targets were already
38:54picked, and a large number
38:56were going to Russia, a
38:57large number were going to
38:59China, and a significant
39:00number was going to
39:01Eastern Europe, regardless
39:04of what precipitated the
39:05war.
39:06We had always been
39:07targeted in the USSR, and
39:10mainly military-industrial
39:13complexes in the USSR, and
39:16now we were targeted
39:18against Red China, which
39:20the ramification of that
39:21to me was that this is
39:23going to be an all-out
39:24thing, it's going to be a
39:25worldwide war.
39:27Well, you know, you take
39:28your opportunities.
39:29If you're going to have a
39:31major release of nuclear
39:32weapons somewhere in the
39:35world, and it's going to
39:36essentially be a free-fire
39:38zone, wouldn't it make
39:39sense that the Air Force
39:40leadership would go ahead
39:41and hit everybody they
39:42could who they felt was an
39:43enemy of the United States?
39:45I had a lot of anger
39:46centered around that
39:47because my opinion at the
39:50time was that President
39:51Kennedy had made a big
39:52mistake, that he was
39:55basically playing poker,
39:57you know, with the
39:58Russians, and we were the
40:00pawns.
40:01To plan his next move, the
40:05President authorizes U-2
40:07flights over Cuba.
40:09October 27th, one plane is
40:12shot down, killing the
40:13pilot.
40:21On the same day, one Soviet
40:24ship crosses the line,
40:26violating the blockade.
40:27For the first time in
40:33history, SAC places the
40:35crews on DEFCON 2, just one
40:37level removed from actual
40:39war.
40:40I can remember being in the
40:42airplane early in the
40:43morning, 5.30, 6 o'clock in
40:45the morning, with weapons
40:47loaded.
40:48We were sitting in the
40:49airplane with a power cart
40:50hooked up to the airplane,
40:52ready to start the engines.
40:53General LeMay sees in the
40:57crisis a great opportunity
40:59and urges the young
41:01president to launch a full
41:02scale attack against Cuba.
41:06Kennedy sends a message to
41:08Khrushchev that if the
41:09missiles are not removed,
41:11the United States will
41:12strike.
41:15Poor old Khrushchev and the
41:17people around him, I don't
41:18think understood the people
41:19they were facing very well.
41:21And I think it's apparent
41:22that they guessed wrong.
41:26Fifty days after the
41:27missiles arrive, Khrushchev
41:29agrees to remove them.
41:33Realizing that a strike is
41:35now out of the question,
41:36General LeMay claims it is
41:38the greatest defeat in our
41:40history, Mr. President.
41:43We must have been there for,
41:45I'd say, probably three or
41:47four hours before the order
41:48came through to stand down.
41:51I didn't feel that what we
41:52were doing was the right
41:53thing, but at the same time
41:54it was my job, and I was
41:56doing my job.
41:58And I believe to this day
42:00that very few people in this
42:02country realize how close we
42:04came at that time to total
42:05nuclear annihilation.
42:09In the wake of the crisis,
42:11Kennedy realizes that SAC
42:12leadership had had only one
42:14plan in place, a full-blown
42:17nuclear counterattack.
42:18So was McNamara says, hey, you
42:21aren't giving the president
42:22any options.
42:24And they changed it.
42:26But can you imagine?
42:29You know, if you're, if China
42:31does something aggressive with
42:34the U.S. and you happen to be
42:35sipping your coffee in Moscow
42:37looking at incoming
42:38ballistic missiles.
42:41I mean, insanity.
42:45For the remaining 29 years of
42:48the Cold War, the world would
42:50never again come so close to
42:52nuclear war.
42:55Whatever the zealotry of the
42:57top leadership exactly had been
42:59during those time frames, they
43:01really firmly believed, and I
43:03think they were correct, that if
43:06the other guy never came after
43:09us, and we never sent our
43:12forces after him, in other
43:15words, if we maintain the balance
43:17of terror, then we won.
43:20We went a half a century, which is
43:22unprecedented in man's history,
43:25without a major continental or
43:28worldwide conflict.
43:29And I would have to say, maybe a
43:33little grudgingly, they were
43:34right.
43:39Today, the shrinking arsenal of
43:41the post-Cold War era leaves the
43:44Air Force with 180 bombers.
43:48And some say this number hasn't
43:50dwindled far enough.
43:55As the United States and former
43:58Soviet Union struggled to undo 50
44:00years of distrust and overkill,
44:03General Lee Butler, the last
44:05commander of Strategic Air
44:06Command, advocates total
44:08elimination of the arsenal he
44:10once controlled.
44:12Standing down nuclear arsenals
44:14requires only a fraction of the
44:16ingenuity and resources as were
44:18devoted to their creation.
44:20I could see for the first time the
44:23prospect of restoring a world free
44:26of the apocalyptic threat of
44:28nuclear weapons.
44:29A world free of the threat of
44:32nuclear weapons is necessarily a
44:35world devoid of nuclear weapons.
44:39I'm like a lot of people who aren't
44:41all that comfortable giving up my
44:43nukes.
44:44You know, they keep me warm at night.
44:45I get a lot of assurance out of
44:47them.
44:47And yet, if I'm willing to back away
44:50and open my mind, those people like
44:53General Butler and like General
44:54Horner may be right.
44:56Maybe we need to go and actually get
44:58rid of these things and promote
45:00their elimination worldwide for the
45:03simple reason that they're not a
45:04usable weapon.
45:05And if anybody does, they're going to
45:07be a pariah around the world.
45:09We cannot uninvent the nuclear bomb.
45:14We cannot repeal E equals MC squared.
45:18nuclear genie is out of the bottle.
45:23And it is illusory, I believe, to think
45:27that we can put it back in.
45:32Even with the threat of full-scale
45:34nuclear war vastly diminished, the
45:37winged leg of the triad has not
45:39completely shed its legacy.
45:41In a world of uncertainty, the
45:44flexibility of the bomber still holds
45:47a lot of appeal.
45:49I think the bombers will continue to
45:52have a role as long as we have these
45:55weapons.
45:57And the reason for that is that the
45:59bombers can be scrambled.
46:01They can be subject to recall.
46:05If American bomber crews were ever sent
46:07on the doomsday mission, it is
46:09unlikely that the B-1 will carry them
46:11into nuclear battle.
46:15The adjustment of the Bones bomb
46:17bays to fit conventional munitions
46:19officially takes them out of the
46:22nuclear count.
46:23That means that crews must acquaint
46:25themselves with the myriad conventional
46:27weapons in the American bomber arsenal.
46:30This is a CBU-87.
46:32CBU stands for cluster bomb unit.
46:34And what that really means is this is
46:37not a bomb by itself, but it's a
46:38canister that holds several bomblets
46:40inside.
46:41This particular one holds about 250 small
46:43bomblets that are about the shape of a
46:46Coke can, maybe slightly longer, and have a
46:48little parachute at the back end that pop
46:51out so that they drop straight down.
46:52We have a series of lanyards on the CBU, and on this
47:05one, this particular lanyard right here is hooked to
47:08the fins back here, and that's what causes the fins to
47:12open up as it leaves the airplane.
47:15Because the B-1 uses a bomb bay, we actually have to add an
47:18extension onto this thing so that it will get far enough out
47:21of the airplane so it doesn't hit something as the fins pop
47:24open.
47:26The area that one of these will cover is dependent on a couple
47:30things, but a good rule of thumb for CBU-87 is it covers
47:34about 150 feet length by about 100 feet of width.
47:37The B-1 was designed before the days of radar-absorbing paint
47:44and deflective surfaces, but it is in its own way a stealthy
47:49machine.
47:50A unique feature of the inlets for B-1 are the two radar
47:55cross-section vanes that's located in each.
47:57What these do, an enemy air interceptor or ground system that's
48:01sending radar energy toward our aircraft, the energy would go
48:04into the inlet, bounce off the fan blades, and come back out.
48:07These radar cross-section vanes diffuse that energy, making it
48:11a smaller return or no return at all.
48:17Further reducing the signature is the bone-smooth underbelly,
48:21hiding the largest payload in the Air Force inventory.
48:24Compared to its actual size, its radar signature is small, but by
48:36today's standards, not small enough.
48:40The bone's approach is really the inverse of stealthy doctrine.
48:47The original hope was that to B-1 would be able to deal with that kind of a
48:51threat through electronic countermeasures, that it would be able to jam the radars.
48:56But based on our analysis in 1977 and 78, we doubted if that electronic countermeasures
49:03would be effective or sufficiently effective.
49:06And therefore, we looked for quite a different and revolutionary way of
49:09defeating the radars.
49:10Instead of trying to jam the radars with electronic noise, we would try to evade them
49:15by just making the plane so small, electronically, that the radars couldn't see it.
49:22The plane that designers came up with was the B-2, the newest generation nuclear bomber.
49:32Enemy defensive radars are capable of detecting threat aircraft up to a radius of 100 miles.
49:38Engineers hoped this futuristic bomber would shrink that radius down to 20 miles or less.
49:54Even to the naked eye, the aircraft is difficult to spot.
50:00Around 10 feet at its thickest point, the blended body of the ghostly gray machine leaves a thin line
50:08on the horizon.
50:11Without getting into classified details of the airplane, I would say that the B-2 creates a radar target
50:20comparable to that of a metal sphere that you could hold in the palm of your hands.
50:26Critics say that on infrared radar, this is simply not true.
50:31The Russians, Chinese, and British claim their radars can already see it,
50:36and that 10 years from now, the stealth technology it employs will already be outdated.
50:45172 feet from wingtip to wingtip, the B-2 is two-thirds the length of a football field.
50:53At $2.2 billion each, the B-2 is eight times the cost of the B-1
50:59and the most expensive plane ever built.
51:04There's nothing about stealth or about the weapon systems in this airplane,
51:09which are particularly expensive.
51:12If you were to only build 20 Chevrolets, a Chevrolet would be a very expensive automobile.
51:21With only 21 B-2s in existence, and no plans to build more in the future,
51:34critics say that its Cold War nuclear mission is no longer needed or affordable.
51:38Two pilots and over 200 computers fly the B-2.
51:56Among the most revolutionary computers is the Global Positioning System,
52:01or GPS satellite tracking capability.
52:04GPS allows the B-2's bombardier to instantly send target coordinates to a GPS receiver
52:11attached to a dumb bomb in its bomb bay.
52:15The B-2 pilot can then correct the target information until the moment of release.
52:21At that point, the GPS receiver takes over the guidance of the bomb.
52:25If you positively, absolutely have to be there overnight,
52:34we can be there with precision weapons anywhere in the world,
52:37with very limited assets, and take out any target.
52:41October 8, 1996.
52:43Major Rex Bailey embarks on a mission to demonstrate
52:46that B-2s can drop 16 GPS-aided conventional bombs
52:51and hit 16 targets with pinpoint accuracy from 40,000 feet.
52:56Here's the grid complex of the target array set up in the Nellis ranges.
53:01You can see the weapon leaving the aircraft there, the first weapon to come out.
53:05Watch the little red circles.
53:07Like they did with the B-1 and B-52,
53:15Pentagon advocates hope to reinvent the B-2 as a conventional bomber.
53:20With GPS accuracy, they plan to secure its future in the Air Force of the 21st century.
53:27The second aircraft that was in formation right behind us
53:30will now take out the rest of the targets.
53:33Sixteen targets destroyed in a single pass,
53:38a job it would take at least eight F-117 stealth fighters to carry out.
53:43When we used to calculate the number of airplanes required to destroy a target,
53:46down to now, how many targets do we want to take out with a single airplane?
53:51Some are quick to point out that the B-1 will do the same job for a lot less money.
53:57In the precision age, it is doubtful that hundreds of American bombers
54:01will darken the skies of their enemies,
54:04dropping indiscriminate nuclear loads on the cities below.
54:08Instead, they will uphold a new era that may change the nature of deterrence itself.
54:13I think that we may see a world someday where the vices of nuclear weapons
54:28will so outweigh their virtues,
54:30the countries may actually give them up in preference to precision strike.
54:36Keeping pace with Air Force doctrine,
54:39the B-1 will be able to achieve similar precision to the B-2 in 1998
54:44with a GPS-guided weapon called the J-DAM,
54:48or Joint Direct Attack Munition.
54:50If you can target it,
54:52and you can target it with accuracy,
54:54you can hold it at risk,
54:56and that is a deterrence force.
54:57By the turn of the century,
55:13bombs like the J-DAM
55:14will be carried on the same rotary launchers
55:17that once carried the instruments of Armageddon.
55:19given the choice,
55:24the B-1 crews at Dias Air Force Base
55:27choose precision over plutonium any day.
55:31Good day to go flat.
55:32J-DAM
55:48J-DAM
55:49J-DAM
55:51J-DAM
55:52J-DAM
55:57J-DAM
55:58Transcription by CastingWords
56:28CastingWords