Taking B-1Bs Down Under: Three Air Force B-1B bombers deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam, recently flew more than 7,000 miles and 16 hours to participate in Australia’s Aces South exercise with the Royal Australian Air Force. The B-1Bs of the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron flew round-robin missions from Guam to Australia, where they each flew one sortie as “red” team bombers conducting anti-ship strikes. The Aussie “blue” forces comprised F/A-18s and F-111s. This was the first participation by USAF B-1 bombers in the Australian exercise.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.