A B-52 from Minot AFB, N.D., flew the first sortie of its European rotation from RAF Fairford, England, on Tuesday. The crew practiced overcoming language barriers during a fighter intercept exercise as part of Baltops 16, according to a US Air Forces in Europe release. Two of the Stratofortresses arrived at Fairford last week and will take part in multiple exercises, including Baltops, which will include participants from 17 countries, Saber Strike 16, and several air shows across Europe. Lt. Col. Mike Maginness, the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, said the airmen will drill the entire spectrum of the bombers’ capabilities during cruise missile, sea mining, and targeting pod exercises with NATO allies. “In today’s world, we will very rarely go at any fight alone,” he said, according to the release. “It is important to train how we fight.”
The U.S. homeland is vulnerable to air and missile attack across the Arctic because the network of ground, air, and space-based defenses guarding those approaches have atrophied over time, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
