B-1B Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon #3630

TempestII · 2023-07-24T14:26:31Z

DB Selector

DB3K

User(s)

USAF B-1B (#4909)

Weapons Carried

Reduce all externally carried AGM-158A, AGM-158B, and AGM-158C loadouts from a total of x40 missiles down to x36 (x24 internal. x12 external) while keeping the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod.

Add 500-2000LB JDAM and CBU WCMD loadouts which are increased by x12 external weapons, giving a total of 36 bombs, while keeping the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod.

Add GBU-72/B (DB #3912) to the Bone. x6 can be carried externally. It is unclear if other weapons can also be carried internally to create mixed loadouts at this time (while keeping the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod).

Add an extra x6 external AGM-183 ARRW Nuclear and / or Penetrator weapons but reduce the internal carriage from x25 to x24. Therefore, the Bone will be able to carry a total of x36 of these missiles (and the same amount of potential Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missiles (HACM) should this get added to the CMO DB); the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod is also included.

Add GBU-39 and GBU-53 internal and external loadouts:
Internal only - x96 GBU-39s or GBU-53s and a AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod.
Internal and external: x96 in the bomb bays, plus x48 on the LAM, and a AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR Pod; 144 total.

Requires Buddy Illumination

No

Default Combat Radius (nm)

Various

Weather Restrictions

All-Weather

Time-of-Day Restrictions

Day & Night

Capable of Quick Turnaround

No

Comments

"Attachment lugs “click into a new position … like Lego” on the pylon, Wong said. The LAM can carry heavy missiles in the same class as ARRW; up to 7,500 pounds per station.

For test crews and forward-deployed bombers, the unit means “one pylon versus seven,” Wong said, which would simplify the amount of hardware that weapon loaders would have to train on or take with them to theater.

The LAM can also “carry some future concepts” involving hypersonics, she added without elaborating.

The first pylon was delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and installed on a B-1, and “they are going through ground tests as we speak,” Wong said. That will be followed by captive-carry tests with a dummy weapon this summer.

The LAM can be installed on the B-1’s external hardpoints, which were inactivated as part of the nuclear arms START treaty. But Wong said “we’ve woken them up” for use with the LAM. The hardpoints were originally intended to carry strategic AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, so the structures can carry heavy weapons in those locations. The hardpoints can be used now because Russia has withdrawn from the New START treaty."

Because the LAM can carry such a heavy load—and the B-1 could mount six of them on external hardpoints as well as in its two bomb bays—it could significantly increase the B-1’s combat loadout as well, Wong said