The Air Force’s newest operational B-52 unit, the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, N.D., has arrived for its first deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam, since the unit was reactivated in September 2009. The squadron is replacing Minot’s 23rd BS for a five-month deployment in support of US Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence on the island, where it will fly training exercises with allies and the other services, according to Andersen officials. This marks the first time that one of USAF’s B-2 or B-52 wings has had two squadrons on back-to-back deployments in support of the CBP, they said. The power projection rotations to the Western Pacific, which B-52 and B-2 squadrons have performed since 2004, give USAF’s dual-capable bombers unique training opportunities not available at other locations, Brig. Gen. Timothy Ray, Air Force Global Strike Command’s operations director, said in a recent interview. (Andersen report by A1C Anthony Jennings)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…