B-1 Lancer: Covers Both the B-1A & B-1B Versions

Over the years, the B-1 bomber has received much publicity. From the beginning, its critics have screamed loud and long about deficiencies and shortcomings that the aircraft was supposed to have. Like any other sophis­ticated system, the B-1 has had some problems, but most of what the critics have had to say was more noise than fact, and clearly illustrated that they were uninformed at the very least. In most cases they simply did not know what they were talking about, nor did they have the expertise to fully understand the problem or its solutions. For example, an editorial in a newspaper in Norfolk, Virgi­nia, blasted the B-1 for its alleged deficiencies. It was obvious that the writer of that column had absolutely no understanding of the B-1 system, and it is doubtful that he had even seen one of the aircraft, much less studied it and its development in any detail. This sort of irresponsible journalism misleads the American public, who often take what these writers say as being factual information. Readers all too often believe that, simply because some­one gets what he or she has written printed in a news­paper, it automatically makes that person an expert. They do not realize that they are reading something that was written by an uninformed and unqualified source.