Some of the B-52s assigned to Minot AFB, N.D., will temporarily be housed at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., while Minot’s runway undergoes repairs, reported the Minot Daily News. The rest of the base’s bombers are slated to deploy with the 69th Bomb Squadron to Guam for six months as part of the ongoing continuous bomber presence there. The center section runway repairs are expected to cost $32.8 million and are the final portion of a three-year upgrade project, slated for completion in October.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.