Who says you can’t share a little glitz/glam and show off while being a part of one of the American military’s most strategically vital fighting weapons in the widespread fight against ISIS (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh etc.)?
You can. And these proud men and women — who are part of the “Sniper targeting pod-equipped” B-1B Lancer crew — do exactly that in the following video while giving all of us a fascinating in-depth view of how one of the most effective aerial combative systems in defeating ISIS in Iraq and Syria go about their daily business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLRQqL4HbsI
Oh, and the most recent deployment that just ended? The 37 BS Tigers (37th Bomb Squadron)? Not only did they do their job, they broke records. That’s right. They were out of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and flew missions from July 2015 to January 2016, flying out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
Here’s how Captain Abraham Smith (of the 379 Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron) put it, in detailing just how the recent team rewrote the books (via the Pentagon):
This rotation has supported a total of 490 sorties and enabled 4,850 bombs to be dropped in six months. When the B-1 leaves this will be the first time since 2001 we won’t have B-1s in the area of responsibility. Our mission has been to provide safe and reliable combat aircraft to the bomb squadron. We’ve supported more bombs dropped in one month than any other B-1 unit.
According to Foxtrot Alpha, the deployment also dropped “double the bombs in a single month (2,224) than any past unit”.
Currently, the B-1 are receiving upgrades and maintenance.
More on this from Foxtrot Alpha:
The B-1 fleet is currently undergoing a substantial avionics improvement program, which includes a glass cockpit that will fuse navigational and tactical systems together, as well as an enhanced diagnostic system and Link 16 data-link connectivity that will vastly enhance crew’s situational awareness and ease communication woes.
Cheers to the Tigers. Boy can they roar, huh?
And produce a snazzy little film, too.