Seemingly Boundless Bombers Secure the Skies
November 20, 2020
By Kimberly Underwood
U.S. Air Force Bomber Task Force effort is supplying more missions than before.
The U.S. Air Force’s shift away from continuously present bomber squadrons in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility has actually resulted in more bomber flights, reports Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, USAF. In April, the service ended Continuous Bomber Presence missions in the Indo-Pacific Theater, which it had conducted with squadrons deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, since March of 2004. Instead, the Air Force turned to the more agile, unpredictable Bomber Task Force model, and it is one that is working, the commander said.
“We've been doing the Bomber Task Force coming up on nine months, and it's been really, really successful,†said Gen. Wilsbach during a November 18 video call with reporters from the Defense Writers Group. “The reason why it's been successful is we're getting more missions flown. We've actually flown more of the bomber-type missions than we did in the Continuous Bomber Presence.â€
Driven by the National Defense Strategy’s policy to address near-peer competition, Bomber Task Force squadrons supporting the Air Force Global Strike Command answer the call to “deliver lethal, ready, long-range strike options to geographic combatant commanders anytime, anywhere,†according to the Air Force.
https://www.afcea.org/content/seemingly-boundless-bombers-secure-skies
