British Typhoon and F-35 jets have flown with an American B-1B bomber over the North Sea.
U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota have been flying from Luleå-Kallax Air Base, Sweden, to train alongside NATO allies.
RAF Typhoon and F-35 aircraft have carried out a training sortie with a US B-1B Lancer bomber over the North Sea. 🌊@nato @usairforce @DefenceHQ#StrongerTogether #DeterAndDefend #WeAreNATO #STDE24 pic.twitter.com/0KrLJwY7nO
— Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) March 1, 2024
The capability to generate sorties from locations like Luleå is a key focus area for U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The BTF 24-2 deployment, say the U.S., sought to exercise the ability to quickly integrate forces and equipment at Allied and partner locations.
All training objectives were met, according to officials.
The U.S. routinely demonstrates its commitment to NATO allies and partners through BTF missions. Through these missions, USAFE-AFAFRICA enables “dynamic force employment in the European theater, providing strategic predictability and assurance for Allies and partners while contributing to deterrence by introducing greater operational unpredictability for potential adversaries”.
Regular and routine deployments of U.S. strategic bombers also provide critical touch points to train and operate alongside Allies and partners while bolstering a collective response to any global conflict.
BTF 24-2 marks the first multi-day deployment of U.S. Air Force bomber aircraft to Sweden.
As part of the training do they practice attack runs against the b1 and evasion the other way?
Usually no. Force protection, escort, data sharing etc. A B1 is far too expensive to operate as OpFor training, unless you really need to imitate a unique characteristic of its profile.
Is it possible it could be used to replicate the characteristics of the TU-160, as they are both supersonic?
I was thinking that but I guess the Russians provide ample training opportunities at the moment anyway with their frequent bomber flights out into the Atlantic. (Although perhaps not so frequent now thanks to the Ukrainians…)
The little and large show in more ways than one.😏
Have there been any B-2s operating in the UK in recent weeks? Asking for a friend 😇
I watched one fly from Oulu in Finland a couple of days ago…Well that’s what Flightradar showed on the Map… it had two F18’s with it whilst flying over Sweden and Norway… I’m guessing it might have met up with the UK F35’s… I couldn’t see them on Flightradar though…. Lulea was in the direct flightpath so Flighradar might have got the departure airport wrong ????
At a airshow I attended (free tickets from the army at that) I watched a female pilot (It was mentioned over the tannoy) do tricks (now, now) with a B1. She threw that plane around like a biplane , amazing to watch
Some large stuff can be quite amazing… I love watching the Chinooks being shown off, They put on a great show… Atlas is another.
Now then, about these “Tricks” …🤔😄
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/concorde-ever-perform-barrel-roll/
B1-B love to of seen them in RAF service ,Replacing the Vulcun 😏