The US Air Force suspended B-1B Lancer flights as airmen found a rigged "drogue chute" incorrectly installed in the ejection seat egress system, Military reported. 

Each strategic bomber will undergo a technical check before it is lifted into the air again. Now all the existing bombers are deployed by the US. In this regard, the suspension of flights will not affect the military operations conducted abroad. Previously, B-1B Lancer was used to strike at government facilities in Syria, which, according to Washington, were related to the chemical weapons production program.

The US armed forces now have 61 strategic bombers now as they are basis of US strategic aviation along with the B-52 Stratofortress and B-2 Spirit.

The B-1B supersonic bombers have been in active US military use since 1986. They were developed as carriers of nuclear weapons, capable to overcome enemy air defenses at high speed. At high altitude, these bombers are able to accelerate to speeds of over 1,300 km/h. However, after the end of the Cold War, the B-1B began retooling under a non-nuclear shock load. After that, they were widely used in local conflicts. For the first time on a combat mission, they flew in 1998, during the bombing of Iraq. Later they were used in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria.

B-1B bombers were actively used during drills on the Korean Peninsula, during a period of worsening relations between Washington and Pyongyang in 2017.

The US Air Force were forced to temporarily suspend flights of this type of aircraft in June 2018. After an emergency landing of a B-1B Lancer bomber in Texas, an investigation began that revealed problems with the ejection seat of the aircraft. All aircrafts have undergone  the investigation.