perform a variety of repair projects on the nation’s only supersonic bomber. “The space is so small we have to cut the wall in half and send it out in two pieces. It can get a little cramped in there,” he said. “It’s funny, because when I served in the military, we worked on this same area but only did a temporary fix. Now I’m on the other side, replacing it to extend the life of the aircraft.” As the B-1 bomber enters its fourth decade of service with the U.S. Air Force, Boeing employees across the country are developing and installing several upgrades that keep the “Bone” (B-one) on the cutting edge of performance. From wings to wiring, the aircraft is undergoing a thorough modernization. Just as Kemper has learned to adapt his size and frame to the space required, so the B-1 continues to adapt to an ever-changing battlefield. Most recently, it has seen extensive action in Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign against the Islamic State group of militants in Iraq and Syria. For several months starting last year, B-1s from an air base in Southwest Asia have pounded ISIS targets in and around the Syrian city of Kobani, near the Turkish border, which had been overrun by the militants. The bombing campaign is credited with helping Kurdish allies retake the city. Before that, the B-1 was a workhorse in Afghanistan and Iraq. Originally developed as a nuclear strike bomber by Rockwell, a Boeing heritage company, it was transformed to carry conventional weapons with the end of the Cold War. Indeed, 24 Boeing Frontiers the B-1 can carry many more bombs and missiles than any other aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The bomber has a crew of four, with wings that sweep back in flight for high speed (top speed is more than 900 mph, or 1,480 kilometers per hour). Other than when deployed to forward bases, the bombers are based at Dyess and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The fleet of 62 aircraft is scheduled to receive cockpit and systems upgrades through the end of 2019. Three hundred miles (480 kilometers) from Dyess, in Boeing’s Oklahoma City office, software engineer Leah Morales scans lines of code on a computer screen, looking for errors. Morales is test lead for Central Integrated Test System (CIT S) for the B-1, a system that monitors the technology on board the aircraft for errors. “The purpose of CIT S is to detect any problems as soon as they occur,” Morales explained. “The software is always running, detecting fault codes so we can fix any issues that come up. Just last week our program detected a hot
Frontiers August 2015 Issue
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