MYTHS ABOUT THE B-1

• We carry nuclear weapons
  Nope, the software/hardware to do so was removed long ago nor has any B-1 crewmember trained for this in several years.
• It's Electronic Warfare System/ECM doesn't work
  Actually it's the best fielded, self-defense defensive jamming system out there, which is amazing considering it's 1970's technology.  It was designed to allow individual B-1s, operating without any fighter escort or standoff jammer support, to penetrate the sophisticated Soviet air defense system.  Wish I could be more specific as to its capabilities especially versus other aircraft but most of that discussion would be classified.  Certainly the ALQ-161 Defensive Avionics System was rushed into service and had teething pains, but these have subsequently been corrected.  Our main problems with the system now concern maintenance and sustainability issues.  Many of the parts aren't made any more (an increasing problem with most USAF combat aircraft) and it is expensive to keep it working.  During OEF, our DAS maintainers did an outstanding job and I rarely encountered significant degradation.   To be sure, we'd like a few more hardware upgrades to keep it effective against newer threats, but I'd trust my life to the system.  I can't think of any higher praise...
• It's unreliable
  Maybe I've been lucky but I've very rarely canceled a sortie due to maintenance issues.  Our primary reliability problem is twofold; lack of spare parts (the AF never bought a full complement to begin with) and low experience in the maintenance force.  They do an awesome job but retention problems have cost us (and the rest of the AF) a lot of good experience.  Nevertheless, my squadron only missed 1 of 300 scheduled sorties during OEF.
• We can go Mach Two
  The B-1A model could but we can't.  We lack the B-1A's variable geometry engine inlets plus we have radar screening shields in our intakes that cut down on airflow but hide the engine inlets from enemy radars, reducing our radar cross section (RCS).  Still, we can go Mach 1.1+ and sustain it longer than most fighters.
• It must carry a stores bay fuel tank for decent range
  We carry it for training or ferry sorties but have never carried a stores bay fuel tank during combat including DESERT FOX, ALLIED FORCE, ENDURING FREEDOM, or IRAQI FREEDOM, but we have carried them recently in operations.  Incidentally, for those modelers out there, we always carry it in the forward bay due to center-of-gravity considerations rather than in the aft bay as it shows on a popular B-1 model kit.  We certainly don't have the range of the mighty B-52, but we do require much less tanking support than fighters do.  We could have stayed on station another 3 hours with the extra gas the fighter types were using to get to Afghanistan. In recent times, we have carried a bay tank to extend on station time as generally there aren't enough targets per sortie to justify three bays of weapons. In general we don't need to carry a bank tank but might carry it if on-station time is more useful than carry a max weapons load.
• It has a huge area for the crew
  People are always surprised when first climbing into a Bone.  They expect a large crew area for such a large airplane.  Well, it's not that big.  We have room for a chemical toilet and four crewmembers.  During long duration sorties, one person can stretch and sleep in the aisle.  Sometimes another crewmember will sleep in the avionics bay behind the crew compartment though this is usually filled to the roof during long sorties (our luggage, spare parts, etc.).  As an aside, my longest sortie was 27.5 hours while ferrying a jet to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, non-stop from Dyess AFB.  If I remember right, we refueled in mid-air four times.  That was a painful flight!
• It is a stealth airplane
  While it was designed with radar cross section reducing features, it certainly doesn't have the level of furtiveness of the B-2A or F-117a.  It is classified as a low-RCS aircraft rather than a true stealth platform and we don't rely on it's low RCS for protection.  We leave that to clever tactics, the ALQ-161 Defensive Avionics System, and integrating into a package of other aircraft for protection.
• It looks like a fighter, so it flies like a fighter
  Though very maneuverable for an aircraft it's size, it's not a fighter.  We are limited to 2.5 Gs peacetime and 3 Gs wartime.  Thus, our turn radius is huge and we can't out turn any fighter.  To put it in perspective, fighters like the MiG-29 or F-16 can pull 9 Gs.  Where we really compare to a fighter is in speed.  Our cruise speed at low altitude is 540 kts (or about 600mph).  Many fighters can fly a higher maximum speed but they can't sustain it like we can.  We typically carry about 185,000 pounds of fuel during war so we can sustain a high speed for a very long time.  Our fuel flow during maximum afterburner is about 100,000 lbs/hour so we could theoretically sustain that for almost two hours.  In practice, the engines would overheat if the blowers were used that long.  At any rate, most fighters can only sustain afterburner for 10-15 minutes and then get very low on gas.  Thus, we can out run most fighters in the long run (the  tortoise and the hare story...) To be sure, the F-22 with its supercruise ability will leave us in the dust but we have an edge with most Russian built fighters. 
• It crashes frequently
  When the Bone was first brought online, it was predicted the USAF would lose one a year due the amount of low level flying we do.  Low level flying is the most dangerous military flying and accounts for most of the accidents and fatalities.  Our actual loss rate has been 1 every 2-3 years.  That's more amazing when you consider how much more time we spend at low level (and at night) than most other fast jets.  In fifteen years of operation, we've lost 7 Bones and half of those were due to crew error.  I'm also amazed how well it works considering how complicated it is.  It's like a 200 hundred ton Swiss watch.  The electrical system is fantastically complex, the wings move, the hydraulic system is 4000 psi (only other jet with that is the Concorde, other jets are 3000 psi), etc., etc.  It always amazes me when I'm on a long sortie (over 10 hours) that the engines just run for hours without a hiccup, always going despite being 1000F and spinning at several thousand rpm...   Anyways, the reason we're comparatively safe is we have four crewmembers to divide up the workload.  It's been my experience, at least one person will have a clue about what's going no matter how difficult the mission gets.  That keeps us out of trouble...a lot...  I'm all about crew airplanes... :)
• It Flew in Desert Storm
  It didn't fly in Desert Storm because it was still transferring over to conventional operations.  A comprehensive upgrade had to be complete first to give us the full range of awesome conventional capabilities we now enjoy.  This upgrade is ongoing and we give us even better capabilities in the future.  During Desert Storm, the Bone sat nuclear alert as it was supposed to (remember the Cold War wasn't quite over then). By the way, the Bone flew in Desert Fox, Allied Force, and Operation Enduring Freedom.  In Allied Force and Enduring Freedom, we dropped the lion's share of weapons even though we were a small percentage of the participating aircraft.  For Operation Enduring Freedom in particular, we dropped more JDAMs than anyone else and we were the real work horse in Afghanistan.  Countless times, troops on the ground turned other aircraft away to work with the Bone.  We were a favorite of the Special Forces and besides the AC-130 we were probably the highest demand aircraft for our ground brethren.  And yet you never hear of anything we did over there in the media...
• The GBU-31 JDAM is GPS-guided
  The Joint Direct Attack Munition or JDAM is not GPS-guided.  Rather it is INU (inertial navigation unit) guided and GPS-aided.  Upon release the weapon takes the last known position from the aircraft's INS (inertial navigation system) and then its INU measures deviation from that point as it travels to the target.  By measuring changes in acceleration the weapon can determine where it is in relation to the target and make course corrections to get there.  Along the way the weapon acquires a GPS signal and uses that to update its INU.  If the weapon fails to acquire a GPS lockon or GPS is being jammed, it is still guided via its INU albeit with degraded accuracy.  Obviously we would prefer to drop the weapon with GPS-aiding especially when we have collateral damage concerns but we can still get acceptable accuracy without it.  It's a misnomer to say that GPS jamming will defeat the JDAM weapon and therefore its not a worthwhile weapon.  The Bone especially can employ the weapon accurately with INU-only guidance because with using our excellent radar we can keep our own aircraft INS very tight without GPS aiding.