US Northern Command boss Adm. Bill Gortney said he expects to release a new Arctic strategy this spring. The report will attempt to determine what requirements the Defense Department will need to inform operational plans in the region, Gortney told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “We need to figure out what are the capabilities that we need because it’s a very harsh place,” said Gortney. He said the US currently doesn’t have the ability to “reliably navigate, communicate, and then sustain ourselves up there.” According to his prepared testimony, NORTHCOM views the Arctic as “an emerging operating area with much yet to be defined.” Russia announced late last year its long-range aviation units, such as its Tu-95 strategic bombers, would expand exercises over the Arctic and in the Western Hemisphere.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…