JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii—The B-1 show of force flight over South Korea served as a loud introduction to the Pacific for the Bone, which is on its first deployment to the region in a decade. On Sept. 9, a B-1B assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron on deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam, flew closer to the demilitarized zone than any other B-1 in history. B-1s, from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., are on a deployment to the Pacific for the first time in 10 years after leaving Central Command operations for the first time in a decade, said Lt. Col. Daniel Alford, the director of operations for the 34th. The show of force was “an introduction to the region,” he said. Two B-1s on the deployment flew to Hawaii last week to conduct a demonstration of US airpower for the delegation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which held an informal meeting with Defense Secretary Ash Carter. A B-1 flew alongside two F-22s from Hickam to give the ministers a taste of US air?power. (See also: Power Projection Practice.)
Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, warned that Russia would remain an enduring threat to NATO and global security, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine.