I seem to recall someone saying that “they were designed for only nuclear capability,” but never heard it confirmed.
They were designed based on justification for nuclear delivery.
No B1s in Gulf War? I know right about the early 90’s and late 80’s they had a serious PR problem after some accidents.
We also launched a lot less of the munitions they are carrying now, so we might not have needed them.
I seem to recall that the B1 fleet was grounded pending repairs on their wings.
The B-1B was designed for a nuclear payload, and when Desert Storm happened they were still testing the bomb-bay modifications that allowed conventional munitions to be carried and dropped. At least that’s how I’ve heard it.
Philster, B-52’s were used extensively in Desert Storm and they have a payload of 108 500lb bombs (that’s 84 in the bomb bay and 24 on wing pylons). They were used quite often to “carpet bomb” Iraqi positions - dropping all 108 bombs in sequence to destroy everything within a strip of land 100 yards wide by 300 yards long…so your statement on the amount of munitions used is really only accurate if you’re talking about within the cities.