...And A Lot Of Firepower, Too
B-1B Lancer aircrews of the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron
guard warfighters from high above Iraq and Afghanistan while
carrying the largest payload of any aircraft in the theater.
Squadron members are responsible for close-air support,
nontraditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and
armed overwatch for troops supporting operations Iraqi Freedom and
Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force Horn of Africa.
"We provide the kinetic firepower for any of the three
operations in the theater," said Lt. Col. Kevin Kennedy, the 34th
EBS commander. "Right now we're primarily focused on OEF in
Afghanistan. We provide a great deal of the firepower there."
The unit was one of the first to deploy to Afghanistan for
Operation Enduring Freedom after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now,
in addition to the ability to lower the boom on the bad guys there,
the aircraft of the 34th EBS feature Sniper Advanced Targeting
Pods. The pod allows aircrews to detect and analyze targets on the
ground through real-time imagery.
"Before we didn't have the television or infrared capability on
the jet," the colonel said. "Now we have that technology. We can
look at something on the ground with our targeting pod and the
(joint terminal air controller) on the ground can also see it."
The unit's B-1Bs can also loiter for long periods over the area
of responsibility because of their fuel capacity, two pilots and
two weapons systems officers on the aircrews.
"We have the ability to fly for a long period of time and the
speed to move through the country fairly quickly," Colonel Kennedy
said.
The unit uses these capabilities on a daily basis. On a typical
mission crews will fly for 12 hours, most of which is spent
conducting armed overwatch of troops on the ground or looking at
requested areas of interest.
"If there happens to be a troops-in-contact situation, we'll
check in with the JTAC who will bring us up to speed and if we need
to deliver weapons we'll do that," the colonel said.
Colonel Kennedy recalled one mission while here where the unit
supported a convoy several times that had come under fire and had
disabled vehicles.
"We got there and were able to help them find the enemy who was
engaging them," he said. "The ground commander made the target
decision, 'Yes, I want to target them.' We engaged them, dropped
weapons on them and assessed how well we did. From that first
engagement there was a follow-on engagement where the enemy went to
get some additional weapons such as a recoilless rifle and moved to
another location where a (rocket-propelled grenade) team was trying
to set up to take action against the coalition convoys. That is the
mission that stands out to me personally. It was our longest
mission for which I have records."
One of the biggest challenges for 34th EBS aircrews is staying
alert through the long sorties, Kennedy said. "You have to be ready
to execute at almost any minute," he said. "There are no rest
periods while we're up there."
Because of the long missions, many of the unit's aircrew members
have logged a large number of combat hours in the area of
responsibility. Capt. Jess Hamilton, the unit's chief of weapons
and tactics, recently went over 1,000 combat hours in the
aircraft.