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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Airman sitting at station aboard B-1151215-F-RI777-009
                        
                        
                        B-1B functional check flight pilot Maj. Michael Griffin, with the 10th Flight Test Squadron, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., evaluates critical defensive and offensive aircraft systems, such as upgraded navigation procedures, radar systems and aircraft terrain, Dec. 15, 2015. An eight-year project to install the Integrated Battle Station on the B-1B Lancer fleet, which began in 2012, was completed in September 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo by Kelly White)
                
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        B-1 aircraft in flight above runway151215-F-RI777-012
                        
                        
                        A B-1B Lancer bomber from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, takes off from Tinker AFB, Okla., Dec. 15, 2015, following completion of the Integrated Battle Station modification. The eight-year project to install the IBS on the B-1B Lancer fleet, which began in 2012, was completed in September 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo by Kelly White)
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B-1B Integrated Battle Station modification completedPublished Sept. 26, 2020
                    
                    By Ron Mullan
                    
                    
                    72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
            **TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) --**An eight-year project to install the Integrated Battle Station, or IBS, on the**B-1B Lancer** fleet has been completed ahead of schedule. Sixty aircraft went through the modification process that began in late 2012 and was completed this month.



The IBS was developed as three separate modifications: Fully Integrated Data Link, Vertical Situational Display Unit and Central Integrated Test System.



“During development, it became obvious that modifying the same aircraft three times would be detrimental to aircraft availability and would create numerous aircraft configurations,” said William Barnes, B-1B Systems program manager,**Air Force Life Cycle Management Center**. “Thus Integrated Battle Station was born.”



The IBS was the largest, most complicated modification ever performed on the B-1 and it gave the flight deck a whole new look.



To complete a modification of this size took thousands of man-hours of work. Rodney Shepard, 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron director, said with 120 maintainers assigned to the modification line working two shifts, completing all 60 aircraft over the past eight years came to 1,050,000 hours of planned work.



With this large of an undertaking, there was bound to be some difficulties along the way.



“With all new workload, the start of the modification line was slow, however, with enterprise buy-in and support, the modification line eventually reduced flow days and met “Art of the Possible” goals,” Shepard said.



By the time the modification was completed, 987 aircraft availability days were returned to the warfighter. The 567th AMXS’s dedication to continuous process improvement on the IBS modification line was a significant element in the unit winning the Robert T. Mason Award for Best Depot Level Maintenance Facility in 2017.



The completed modification will enhance B-1B flight operations and give the crews more flexibility in performing their various missions.



“All aircraft outfitted with the Integrated Battle Station modification enhancements provide the four members of the aircraft with much greater ’battlefield‘ awareness of surrounding threats whether those threats are air-to-air or ground-to-air, and provides a much faster capability to execute both defensive and offensive maneuvers needed in any conflict,” Shepard said.



Lt. Col. James Couch, 10th Flight Test Squadron commander, whose pilots and weapon system officers performed numerous check flights on the modified aircraft, echoed those comments.



“This upgrade drastically improves aircrew situational awareness with color displays, and enhanced navigation and communication systems are projected to significantly enhance B-1B mission readiness,” Couch said. “Although this closes a chapter, this continues the unprecedented advances of B-1B lethality and aircrew situational awareness for decades to come. All of these benefits are made possible by the IBS upgrade.”



The onset of the coronavirus pandemic had little effect on the timeline of the modification.



“For the IBS workforce, COVID(-19) restrictions were very limited,” Shepard said. “At the time of the outbreak, the IBS modification line only had one aircraft in-dock at the Maintenance Repair Overhaul Technology Center, with three aircraft already transitioned to post-dock flight operations.”



Col. Greg Lowe, 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group commander, said IBS provides upgraded capability for communications and situational display, which is a tremendous advantage to the warfighters in**Air Force Global Strike Command**.



“Using the**Air Force Sustainment Center**’s constraints-based management system, known as ‘Art of the Possible,’ the artisans of the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron developed a repeatable process to efficiently install the modification on the aircraft,” Lowe said. “The project employed 120 mechanics and support personnel at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex for the past eight years. And while this mission is coming to an end, all of our employees will be diverted to other growing workload at Tinker (AFB).”



Air Force Global Strike Command had high praise for the men and women at Tinker AFB who worked on the modification.

“Big thanks to the team at Tinker (AFB) for doing a remarkable job retooling the B-1 and getting it back in the fight,” said**Gen. Tim Ray**, AFGSC commander. “The work the B-1 and our Airmen are doing is a great example of how we’re making a huge impact on Dynamic Force Employment to support the National Defense Strategy. These modifications have revitalized the B-1 for the high-end fight, allowing our precision strike force to remain strategically predictable but operationally unpredictable.”LR 



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Related Links
        Largest B-1 mod in history set to begin
                                Nov. 27, 2012
                                Making the B-1 Lancer "badder to the bone" begins Nov. 26. Officials announced the news with a kickoff event Nov. 15 at a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Technology Center hangar in Oklahoma City.The Integrated Battle Station, or IBS, modification will modernize three of the aircraft's capabilities
            
            First upgraded B-1 departs Tinker
                                Jan. 23, 2014
                                A B-1 Lancer that received the first Integrated Battle Station modification that features full color displays, moving maps and a new diagnostics system, departed Tinker Air Force Base on Tuesday en route to Dyess AFB, Texas, for testing and training.The IBS -- the most extensive modification program
            
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                                Feb. 5, 2016
                                Last month, the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron accomplished a huge goal.In an effort to make the B-1 bomber more effective, the squadron was tasked with installing the Integrated Battle Station modification on the Air Force's B-1 fleet. Fifteen aircraft, a quarter of the fleet, had to be
            
            Lengthening life for the B-1 Lancer
                                Dec. 10, 2019
                                The B-1 Lancer has been flown hard in the theater of war and terror for the past 15 years. In order to keep the fleet serving the Air Force for the next 20 years and beyond, it needs dedicated structural repair and maintenance, and that’s where Tinker Air Force Base comes in.“It’s been flown past
            
            B-1 tool born out of necessity
                                Aug. 2, 2019
                                Sometimes tasks aren’t chosen, but are instead predestined.Melvin Pruitt, a sheet metal mechanic for the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, said in 2015, he was tasked with repairing the nutplates on the inboard cockpit kick panels for the B-1 bomber. During that process he found that the area was
            
            B-1 IBS modification reaches milestone
                                Sept. 14, 2018
                                A ceremony Sept. 5 in the maintenance repair overhaul technology center building celebrated a milestone reached by the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, installing the Integrated Battle Station modification into the final B-1 aircraft to be delivered to Ellsworth Air Force Base.While the Featured News
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