US and Russian officials continue to hash out the details of a B-52/Tu-95 bomber exchange, Air Force Global Strike Command spokeswoman Capt. Karen Mock told the Daily Report. “Further discussions are presently underway to solidify the details for the execution of exchange visits of bombers, crews, and support personnel,” said Mock on Jan. 11. AFGSC announced the US-Russia “long-range aviation bomber exchange program” last August after a command-led delegation returned from a site survey of Engels Air Base in Saratov, Russia, to determine if Engels was suitable to support B-52H operations. The July 21-28, 2012, visit came after a Russian group toured Barksdale AFB, La., from July 11-12, 2012, to gauge its ability to host the Tu-95. Mock said the “site surveys at both locations were found to be satisfactory.” The Russians proposed the bomber exchange during annual US-Russia security-cooperation discussions, she said.
The U.S. military needs to wake up to the fact that global dominance is no longer a viable strategy for national defense, because pursuing that unrealizable goal is making the country less safe, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said April 22. Emerging defense technologies like swarms of…