Global Enterprise, an ACC exercise to train aircrews for long-distance power projection missions, is carried out from Ellsworth AFB, S.D. Two B-1B Lancers are flown to Europe, across the Mediterranean and Red Seas around the Arabian Peninsula, and land at a staging base in Southwest Asia. After exchanging crews, the B-1s are flown from Southwest Asia, via Japan, over the Aleutians, and then back to South Dakota. Total flight time is 37.3 hours, and the 24-hour first leg is the longest flight ever made by a B-1B crew.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
