United States Air Force B-52s and allied fighters have participated in coordinated combined air-to-ground drills over Romania.
The Allied Air Command led the dynamic long-range operation above Romania, with the Combined Air Operations Centre at Torrejón coordinating the actions of Allied fighter and bomber aircraft.
During the exercise, Italian Eurofighters and USAF F15Es, supported by USAF B-52s, carried out a combined offensive against simulated adversarial air defence systems, including Romanian F-16s, Spanish F-18s, and the French Mamba Surface-Based Air and Missile Defence (SBAMD) system deployed in Romania.
The exercise allowed Allied units to practice tactics, techniques, and procedures designed to address a complex set of potential real-world challenges in a contested air domain.
Currently, the B-52s are conducting their Bomber Task Force rotation out of Moron, Spain, and over the next few weeks, they will fly alongside numerous allied Air Forces across different platforms.
“These missions provide a valuable opportunity to train our crews in a complex, contested and dynamic environment,” Colonel Michele Morelli, Italian Task Force Air commander, was quoted in a NATO news release as saying.
“Training these high-end capabilities including bomber and fighter integration ensures NATO can achieve a desired level of control of the air, wherein the Alliance is able to conduct the full range of its missions in peacetime, crisis and conflict.”
F18s flying south along beach at Kessingland Monday. Was there an excercise on as jets are rare nowdays, common when I was a 1960/70s kid?
Tiny increase in defence spending in the budget but only in future years. We already had announced £2bn this year and £3bn next year, the budget maintains that increase at £2bn per year. Budget doesn’t say what the funds after the first £5bn are for but it may in part be continued increase in submarine funding with the aspiration remaining for the SSN fleet be doubled and SSN(R) now AUKUS being accelerated by a couple of years laying down this decade rather than next.
23/24 £2.00bn
24/25 £3.00bn
25/26 £2.01bn
26/27 £2.02bn
27/29 £2.035bn
Sadly the Army didn’t really get anything out of the budget 🙄
Ben Wallace is reported to have wanted £11b more on defence. Looks like he got it. As far as I can recall, Ajax, Boxer, Ch3 and future SPG all have full funding in the 10 year plan. Whether any of the unallocated increase is just to address inflationary pressure or allow more to be bought isn’t clear. Not sure of the revised timescale for Ajax, but Ch3 and Boxer are running to the end of the decade.
Doesnt look like any of this is for inflation, its all Submarine related with some munition restocking thrown in. They are gearing up for another submarine production line.
Is that definite? The extra money up to 2025 has been allocated to ammunition replenishment and to nuclear but is the later years uplift too? It’s odd that 2 separate announcements were made. Wallace presumably knew about the Aukus plan ( he questioned last year whether we had the right balance between sub and surface fleets) and wanted £11b more for defence. Germany announced a massive spending increase to upgrade defence equipment. But it is finding it hard to spend quickly because of supply chain limitations. Our major programmes are on very extended schedules and we would find it harder… Read more »
Statement in the house. “The right hon. Gentleman asked about investment. I am pleased to note that, in the last financial year, £2 billion was invested into Barrow-in-Furness and Raynesway, as he will have seen, because I think he has had the opportunity to visit both recently. There will be further investment to come, partly as a result of what has been announced recently, and in the years to come, which echoes my point about it having to be sustained and continued. “ “We know, come what may, that the first of these submarines will be built in Barrow, and we have already… Read more »
What the Army needs is mass. Unlike the other services, platforms are only part of the answer. Mass for the Army really means people, when you have a situation when the regular component and volunteer reserve together only number just over 100k, it’s not great.
I think people on this site, which is quite RN / RAF focused – often miss that point. We get carried away with numbers of tanks, or bringing AJAX into service.
RN/RAF Focus aside I think we all appreciate the dire situ the army is in and UKR experiences confirm that mass of numbers is necessary no matter how tactically good an opposition force may be. All the force multipliers in the world won’t compensate for not having anybody to actually send to a theatre of war. That said I think we have depth of capability in other areas and of course we’re part of NATO which however you look at it is a force to be reckoned with.
But the services are suffering recruitment and retention problems. Modern youth just seems to be not interested in joining up, much too much like hard work and what’s this cr*p about being told what to do and I might get killed? At current rate of progress, slow as it is, we will have the hardware but no-one to operate it as the current military ages and retires.
Was that meant for here or for the Wagner chat group?
😂😂😂
Wrong, the issue with recruitment is the way it’s run, Capita, look it up. But it it does seem you thought the same 50 or more years ago eh, as you didn’t join up either. Stick with trying to justify the illegal invasion of Ukraine as you’ve already stated many times you have no interest of other military matters on here.
While they are about (here in Europe) maybe they could fly over the Black sea…
They have made a number of other sorties, visible on FR24, in the last few weeks since the deployment to Spain.
I saw a pair go quite some way up the Norwegian coast. Another time a pair buzzed over Denmark before continuing up the Baltic, where one continued up to the Gulf of Finland before returning over Estonia and Latvia about 50km from the Russian border – it did at times look a bit Dr. Strangelove…
I saw yesterday on FR 24, one B52 last night did circuits last night near Norway, then transited across the North Sea flying across East Anglia then diagonally across the country toward South Wales. The B52 then flew onwards to the Atlantic.
They won’t smoke anymore after RR finishes with them.
It is possible some B-52 airframes will be in service for 80 years.
It’s astonishing the RR engine once fitted will never come off the wing of the B52.
Aeralis has signed an agreement with the Japanese company ShinMaywa to adivise them on digital aircraft design technology. ShinMaywa is most famous for the US-2 amphibious plane. Some suggestions this an an embryonic program for a common fighter trainer to accompany GCAP.
That’s cool, wish they can speed up the trainer prototype to fly sooner than 2025.
Flying out of Moron, Spain😂😂😂😂
Used for intelligence gathering 😂
Morón Air Base
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Base_A%C3%A9rea_de_Mor%C3%B3n_%28OZP%2C_LEMO%29_20090216_1341_%282%29_Mor%C3%B3n.JPG/1024px-Base_A%C3%A9rea_de_Mor%C3%B3n_%28OZP%2C_LEMO%29_20090216_1341_%282%29_Mor%C3%B3n.JPG
Is the B-52 the longest serving (military) aircraft in history, or the Hercules. Obviously there are Sopwith Camel’s flying but they where only active for 1916-1921 etc.
These B-56’s are all H’s or rather H+++ given the new RollyRolly engines?