The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center B-1 Division is sponsoring a research project with Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to study the effects of flight operations on aircraft structures.
The NIAR team will dismantle the B-1B 86-0101 fuselage, remove all the paint and primer, and perform high-fidelity inspections looking for cracks and corrosion on the entire fuselage, including areas that have been inaccessible since manufacturing in the mid-1980s.
To augment the ongoing NIAR B-1 Digital Twin Program, components that were not delivered with the Digital Twin fuselage will be scanned and digitized to complete the virtual fuselage model. To meet these objectives, NIAR will transport the 86-0101 fuselage from Tinker Air Force Base to its facility north of Wichita.
