Highly Versatile Multi-Mission Bomber: Why The B-1 Lancer Was Resurrected From The Dead

The Rockwell B-1 Lancer had a rocky start; at one point, it was canceled, much like the XB-70 Valkyrie before it, with only a limited number of test examples built. But a few years later, the Air Force returned to the B-1 project. Rockwell redesigned it from a low-flying take on the earlier XB-70 to something of a precursor to the Spirit B-2. To understand the B-1 Lancer, it is important to understand what problems it was intended to solve and what was driving its design and redesign.