Four B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, were dispatched to Japan for the Bomber Task Force mission. They arrived last week.
The ongoing government shutdown hasn’t grounded the United States Air Force. So far—at least until servicemembers’ paychecks stop arriving—it is mostly business as usual, as characterized by the latest Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission, which began last week.
It remains unclear how many support personnel were also dispatched to the Land of the Rising Sun or for how long the B-1Bs might remain. As with past missions, the service didn’t give advance notice, but this time it may be carried out in a de facto stealth mode.
The B-1 Lancer’s Specifications
The United States Air Force currently operates 45 B-1B Lancers. The aircraft formally entered service 40 years ago as a nuclear bomber, but following the end of the Cold War, it can only carry conventional weapons.
- Year Introduced: 1985
- Number Built: 104
- Length: 146 ft (44.5 m)
- Wingspan: 79 ft (24.1 m)
- Weight:
- 190,000 lb (86,183 kg) empty
- 477,000 lb (216,364 kg) MTOW
- Engines: 4 x General Electric F101-GE-102 afterburning turbofan engines
- Top Speed: ~925 mph (~1,500 km/h, Mach 1.25) at altitude
- Range: 6,500 nmi (~7,500 mi, 12,000 km)
- Service Ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
- Payload:
- Internal: 75,000 lb (34,019 kg)
- External: 50,000 lb (22,679 kg)
- Aircrew: 4 (aircraft commander, copilot, two weapon systems officers)
America’s B-1 Bombers Landed in Japan Last Week
For the second time this calendar year, the Air Force deployed multiple Rockwell B-1B Lancer long-range bombers to Misawa Air Base, Japan. As the new fiscal year for the federal government and with it the Department of Defense (DoD) began on October 1, this could be the first BTF 2026 mission.
However, the numbering of these missions in these final three months of the year is sometimes confusing. The more important point is that even with a government shutdown now entering its fourth week—already the third-longest in history—the US Air Force continues to carry out its BTF deployments.
Images of the aircraft landing at Misawa Air Base have since made the rounds on social media, but the Air Force has yet to officially announce the arrival of the aircraft or to make any statement. Since the start of the shutdown, the Air Force hasn’t updated its websites or sent out any media statements.
A total of four B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, were apparently dispatched to Japan for the BTF mission, arriving last week. The Lancers will likely carry out joint operations with the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) and other US elements in the Far East. The JSDF’s large-scale, regional wargames kicked off on Monday and will run through the end of the month. It was previously announced that US and Australian military forces will take part, leading to speculation that the B-1s could be involved.
Why Are US Air Force Bombers in Japan Yet Again?
This month’s BTF mission with the B-1Bs follows a previous deployment to Japan that began in April and lasted nearly a month. The Lancers took part in multiple exercises with regional allies and partners, but also inadvertently shut down commercial air traffic following a minor mishap. One of the Lancers was forced to make an emergency landing on a shared runway at Misawa Airport, forcing a flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, with 200 passengers on board, to return without landing.
The B-1Bs have remained a familiar sight in the Indo-Pacific, as the Cold War-era bomber has been deployed multiple times to the Indo-Pacific in BTF missions.
Calendar year 2024 further saw the United States’ 8th Air Force’s fleet of Rockwell B-1B Lancer, Northrop B-2 Spirit, and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers successfully integrate with 23 percent of the world’s military in BTF missions around the globe. According to Air & Space Forces magazine, the Air Force carried out 33 BTF missions, “including 10 each to the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. A few others went to Southwest Asia and on deployments to North and South America.”
B-1B Lancers from Dyess AFB were last deployed in the BTF mission in August, when two of the bombers were sent to Ørland Air Base, Norway.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].Image: Wikimedia Commons.
