[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22424-22425]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              B-1B LANCER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Thune) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. Thune. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see the progress we are 
making in the war in Afghanistan and the turn it has taken for the 
better in the last week. We have seen cities like Mazar-e Sharif and 
Kabul and Kandahar perhaps falling, and systematically the resistance 
is moving forward. We are making progress.

[[Page 22425]]

  I believe there is no reason other than the success of the 
concentrated bombing campaign, which has been led by Colonel Ed Rice, 
the 28th Air Expeditionary Wing commander and the commander at 
Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.
  The reason we have met with such considerable success over there is 
due to the air power we have been able to project. The B-1B Lancer is a 
huge part of that success.
  Mr. Speaker, I would simply note for the RECORD that the B-1 bomber 
brings a tremendous number of assets and attributes to the campaign. It 
is the only supersonic bomber in the Air Force. The speed that it 
travels at allows it to integrate seamlessly into huge fighter strike 
packages.
  In terms of range, the large fuel load allows it to fly from great 
distances and loiter for hours over the battlefield.
  It is flexible. It can carry a wide variety of munitions. It can 
carry more weapons than any other aircraft in the Air Force inventory.
  Its lethality: The B-1 has the largest payload of any U.S. bomber. It 
is the monster truck of the U.S. bomber fleet.
  Its ability to deliver a large number of weapons is what makes it so 
valuable to warfighting. It can carry 84 500-pound ``dumb'' bombs and 
24 2,000-pound precision munitions.
  A single B-1 flying just one combat mission over Afghanistan is able 
to destroy 24 different targets. That is economy of force. Because of 
the B-1s' huge payload, fewer combat aircraft had to go into harm's way 
during this war on terrorism.
  Mr. Speaker, the B-1 has had a remarkable combat history: In Desert 
Fox, its combat debut in Iraq in 1999, with the Allied force there and 
the effort that went forward. The B-1 created an unparalleled record in 
Kosovo that may be unsurpassed in history, in which it completed 100 of 
100 combat missions and took off on time 100 percent of the time. Just 
seven B-1s dropped 20 percent of the bombs, over 2\1/2\ million pounds 
of munitions, during that conflict.
  Now, currently in Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, B-1s are currently 
flying a large percentage of the bomber missions in Afghanistan and 
have destroyed a large percentage of the total targets. B-1s are 
dropping precision weapons and carpet bombing Taliban strongholds on a 
continuous basis. Mr. Speaker, the B-1 is playing a huge and important 
role in the war.
  I would be remiss, too, Mr. Speaker, if I did not acknowledge the 
folks from South Dakota and my home State from Ellsworth Air Force Base 
who are doing a remarkable job in Afghanistan.
  Ellsworth Air Force Base has deployed a large number of air crew 
members, maintenance, and support personnel to support the war on 
terrorism. South Dakota soldiers and airmen prepare meals and load 
bombs. Airmen from South Dakota put themselves in harm's way.
  The Ellsworth Air Force commander, as I said earlier, Colonel Rice, 
commands all B-1 and B-52 operations over Afghanistan. In the war on 
terrorism, the men and women of Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 
have shouldered a huge responsibility in an effort to make America safe 
against the evil that lurks in terrorist camps and caves throughout the 
world.
  Air Force B-2, B-1, and B-52 bombers flew about 10 percent of the 
combat missions over Afghanistan, but dropped more than 80 percent of 
the tonnage expended, hitting 70 percent of the aim points identified, 
and damaged or destroyed about three-quarters of all the targets in 
this operation.
  Mr. Speaker, today I would like to pay special tribute to the folks 
from South Dakota and Ellsworth Air Force Base, and to Commander Ed 
Rice, for the tremendous effort those folks have played in leading us 
to the successes we are seeing and the progress we are making in 
winning the war on terrorism.
  I would also acknowledge the important role that the B-1 bomber has 
played in this very important mission. We would not be where we are 
today, Mr. Speaker, were the B-1 not the workhorse in Afghanistan.
  I believe it is significant in light of the discussions we are 
currently having about military strategy and force structure as we head 
into the future that the B-1 bomber, in its role in Afghanistan, that 
we acknowledge the tremendous success, the tremendous assets and 
attributes that this particular plane and weapons systems is able to 
possess and bring to our military arsenal, and our ability to protect 
America and to keep it safe in this new century against the evils of 
terrorism and other threats that may be projected against the United 
States.
  Mr. Speaker, today I would simply close by, again, acknowledging the 
men and women at Ellsworth Air Force Base, 28th Bomber Wing, and the B-
1 as the workhorse of the bomber fleet we are using to win the war in 
Afghanistan.

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