After an intense month and a half of operations in Europe and the Middle East, the United States Air Force (USAF) announced that four B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers will begin returning to the U.S., with the remaining aircraft set to follow in the coming weeks. These four bombers, based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, departed from RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, where they had been deployed since early November.
“Working alongside our allies and partners highlights the strength of collaboration. Each mission was a testament to the power of teamwork, shared expertise, and a unified commitment to security. Together, we build solutions no nation could achieve alone, demonstrating that our collective strength truly defines the success of every operation,” said Captain Aaron Gurley, mission planner for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) Bomber Task Force, in a statement.
During their deployment in Fairford, the B-52Hs carried out multiple operations. The main highlights included an unusual weapon drop mission in Lithuania, a simulated weapon deployment training mission over Finland alongside Swedish and Finnish fighters, and a multi-domain military exercise involving detection, targeting, and tracking with Norway and the United Kingdom in the Arctic, among others.
Meanwhile, the B-52 deployment in the Middle East featured missions to Bahrain to participate in the Bahrain International Airshow and integration with British fighters in November. For instance, in early December, the B-52s flew alongside F-15E fighters and A-10 attack aircraft to conduct airstrikes in central Syria against terrorist groups as part of the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.
Currently, the six B-52s deployed in the Middle East are expected to return to the U.S. in the coming weeks, primarily due to the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Similarly, the F-15E Strike Eagle squadron also deployed in the region will return to its air base, as this force was temporarily deployed to compensate for the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier’s departure for the Pacific last November.
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