...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.

FMI: www.af.mil