A couple of US Air Force B-2 bombers from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., transited the Atlantic last week making a stopover at RAF Fairford, England, in one of the unit’s routine Global Power training missions, reports the Swindon Advertiser. While there, the aircrews dropped 2,000 pounds of inert weapons at the Wainfleet bombing range in Lincolnshire, reports the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Maj. Craig Mockler, with the 509th BW, who talked with the newspapers, said it had been two years since the USAF B-2 force had visited Fairford.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.