Pacific Air Forces sent some 6,000 airmen to locations around the world this past year and expects to see its rate of deployments increase by about five to 10 percent next year, reports Stars and Stripes. A PACAF spokesman attributed part of the increase to in-lieu-of taskings. About half of those airmen PACAF sends on deployments go to Iraq.
Three B-1B Lancers from the 7th Bomb Wing flew over the Indo-Pacific alongside F-16s from the Japanese Air Self Defense Force recently, as part of a joint large force exercise. The mission began and ended in the continental U.S., as the bombers flew 31 hours and landed Jan. 11.