This B-1B weighs up to 477,000 lb. Its four engines make about 123,000 lb of thrust with the afterburners lit. That's a thrust-to-weight ratio of roughly 0.26. And it still gets airborne. Thrust doesn't lift an airplane. Wings do. Thrust only has to get you to lift-off speed before the runway runs out. That's why the wings swing forward for takeoff, 137 ft of span fully spread, then sweep back to 79 ft once it's fast. The price is the pivot: more weight and mechanical complexity, on every flight. And the burners roughly triple fuel burn, so they only stay lit for seconds to minutes. Watch the nozzles in the clip. That glow is each engine jumping from about 17,000 lb of thrust to nearly 31,000.