B-52 bombers take off from Britain for night mission over Europe

[aziqbal]

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Two U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers have taken off from RAF Fairford in the UK for a night-time mission over Europe.​

The two bomber aircraft, callsigns CHIEF11 and CHIEF12, took off from RAF Fairford tonight.

The aircraft arrived in the UK earlier this week. In an audio clip, Typhoon jets can be heard to welcome American B-52 aircraft to the United Kingdom whilst over the coast of western Scotland.

B-52 Stratofortress aircraft, support equipment, and personnel from the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, arrived at RAF Fairford, England, earlier this week to execute a long-planned Bomber Task Force mission. Bomber Task Force missions are regularly scheduled U.S. European Command and U.S. Strategic Command joint mission series.

According to a statement:

“En route to RAF Fairford, U.S. Bomber Aircraft integrated with British Typhoon aircraft and Portuguese F-16s currently assigned to NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing mission. Bomber aircraft also integrated with British Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) to conduct bilateral Close Air Support training. The mission focused on enhancing readiness and interoperability for the controllers responsible for coordinating airstrikes to support ground forces. Regularly integrating with our allies improves our cooperation and operational capacity, capability and interoperability. Occurring since 2018, bomber rotations through Europe maintain our readiness to execute a wide variety of missions across two continents, sustaining peace through deterrence.”

“With an ever-changing global security environment, it’s critical that our efforts with our allies and partners are unified,” said Gen Jeff Harrigian, USAFE-AFAFRICA commander.

“We’re in Europe training and collaborating together, because consistent integration is how we strengthen our collective airpower.”