The Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing is supplying the current tanker force for the latest bomber rotation to Andersen AFB, Guam. The Air Guard unit arrived last month and will depart in January, but some individual airmen may serve only two-three weeks of the wing’s rotation. This deployment marks the first time the Air National Guard has supported a full expeditionary rotation with a single unit deployed to Guam, according to a Nov. 14 Andersen release. During their deployment, airmen of the 171st ARW are supporting the B-52 bombers deployed from Minot AFB, N.D., but, as the only Air Mobility Command tanker resource in the area, they are also supporting other aircraft, such as Navy F-18s and other USAF aircraft flying in recent Pacific area exercises. (Andersen report by A1C Ryan Whitney)
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…