4 US B-52 bombers just got back from a month flying all around Europe — here's what they were up to

Cpl. Alex Scott/UK Ministry of Defense

• US B-52 bombers and airmen deployed to the UK in October for Bomber Task Force 20-1.
• Bomber Task Force deployments are meant train US aircrews while reassuring partners and deterring foes.
• This rotation, which ended this week, was no different, as US bombers flew all over Europe and into the high north.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Four US Air Force B-52 bombers from the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana arrived in England with about 300 airmen on October 10 for a bomber task force deployment.

The bombers were deployed to RAF Fairford to "conduct integration and interoperability training" with partners in the region and to "exercise Air Force Global Strike Command's ability to conduct bomber operations from a forward operating location" in support of US Air Forces in Europe and US European Command.

Amid heightened tensions with Russia after its 2014 seizure of Crimea, bomber task force exercises over Europe are also meant to reassure US partners and to be a deterrent to Moscow — this deployment, like others before it, also saw US bombers fly close to Russia in Eastern Europe and the high north.

Below, you can see what US airmen and bombers did during the month they were in Europe.

Bomber Task Force 20-1 was "part of a routine forward deployment of bomber aircraft in the European theater that demonstrates the US commitment to the collective defense of the NATO alliance," a US Air Forces Europe-Africa spokeswoman said.

US Air Force/Staff Sgt Philip Bryant

The Barksdale B-52s' deployment to RAF Fairford was their first since this spring, the spokeswoman said, and comes not long after a B-2 Spirit bomber task force deployment in August and September that saw the stealth bomber accomplish several firsts over Europe.

BTF 20-1 missions kicked off a few days after the bombers landed in England.

US Air Force/Senior Airman Stuart Bright

The exercises were not only for aircrews. Munitions specialists deployed with the task force also practiced assembling BDU-50s — inert, unguided bombs.

US Air Force/Staff Sgt. James Cason


See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• Amid tensions with Russia, NATO is trying to up its game in the waters around Europe
• How a former British paratrooper prepared actors in '1917' to fight WWI's devastating battles
• Meet the Night Stalkers, the pilots who fly SEALs and Delta Force to their most dangerous and secretive operations

SEE ALSO: Russia is finding new islands in the Arctic, while the US is still trying to figure out how to get up there

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/2CMdN7b