A B-52 bomber flew non-stop from Louisiana to the South China Sea, where it joined two aircraft carriers over the weekend, in the latest demonstration of a new U.S. strategy designed to keep adversaries on their toes.
In the past few months, the Air Force has been sending bombers from the mainland United States to Europe and the Pacific on bomber task force missions to demonstrate a new strategy known as dynamic force employment.
The new strategy, created in response to the National Defense Strategy in 2018, allows the military as a whole to launch more deployments and missions unpredictably from the mainland.
The Navy has abandoned the year-long clockwork deployment cycles that allowed adversaries to predict when and where U.S. carrier groups would be sailing.
The U.S. military has pivoted during the Trump administration to face what it describes as “renewed Great Power Competition” with Russia, and even more significantly with China.
The Navy didn’t specify where the exercises were being conducted in the South China Sea.
However, Wikoff said the exercises weren’t a response to recent Chinese military exercises in the region, which had stirred criticism from Washington.
The two carriers were joined by the B-52 bomber during the exercises, which, after 28 hours non-stop flying, landed on the strategically important U.S. base on the island of Guam.
For the first time in 16 years, Guam has been left without a permanent bomber presence since April, as the U.S. Air Force shifted toward its new deployment model.
“This shift initially drew some concern because continuous bomber presence has been viewed by U.S. citizens in the Marianas, and then U.S. allies in the region as a clear signal of U.S. resolve in the region.”
However, the vigorous adoption of the new approach over the past few weeks has alleviated some of the concerns allies have, Walton said.
“In fact, it’s likely that bombers operating from U.S. bases are now even more capable than they were in the past.”