Global Enterprise, an ACC exercise to train aircrews for long-distance power projection missions, is carried out from Ellsworth AFB, S.D. Two B-1B Lancers are flown to Europe, across the Mediterranean and Red Seas around the Arabian Peninsula, and land at a staging base in Southwest Asia. After exchanging crews, the B-1s are flown from Southwest Asia, via Japan, over the Aleutians, and then back to South Dakota. Total flight time is 37.3 hours, and the 24-hour first leg is the longest flight ever made by a B-1B crew.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.