Ten years ago this month, six B-2s from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., struck the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, kick-starting Operation Enduring Freedom. One of the B-2s in that initial wave flew a 44.3-hour mission, still the longest bombing mission in aviation history, according to the wing. More than a decade later, some of those same B-2 pilots remain involved in the aircraft’s conventional and nuclear strategic deterrent mission, said wing officials. And, the B-2s continue to be the leading edge when the nation needs them. Earlier this year, in March, B-2s took off from Whiteman to drop bombs on former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s forces in Libya, again opening the doors to a conflict, this time NATO’s air war. (Whiteman report by SrA. Cody H. Ramirez)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…