Posted on 10/21/2017 7:20:06 AM PDT by markomalley
Two supersonic bombers reportedly drilled alongside allies in Northeast Asia Saturday, reaffirming U.S. commitment to its partners and sending a message to North Korea and other challengers.
B-1B Lancers, powerful aircraft carrying the largest conventional payload of guided and unguided munitions of any Air Force bomber, departed Andersen Air Force Base in Guam for the Korean Peninsula Saturday. They first joined up with two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s before joining up with two Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K fighters, the Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs Office said in an official statement.
The bombers conducted a flyover during the 2017 Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition at Seoul Airport. Escorted by South Korean fighters, one flew to a low altitude of only around 500 feet. Spectators could hear the roar of the engines and feel the vibration as they passed, a defense ministry official told Yonhap News Agency.
Together with South Korean air force units, the bombers reportedly conducted simulated air-to-surface missile launch drills, according to South Korean media.
The sequenced flights with Japan and [South Korea] are a demonstration of the strength of the bilateral alliances between U.S. partners and allies, the Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs Office explained.
U.S. bombers recently participated in an unprecedented nighttime training exercise with South Korean and Japanese strategic air assets near the Korean Peninsula. In the past, these flights were carried out in response to North Korean provocations, such as ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests, but they are now being conducted regularly.
These flights are expected to occur every couple of weeks, officials told Yonhap. North Korea has suggested that it has the right to self-defense, including the right to open fire on American military aircraft. It has not, however, attempted to do so since the countrys foreign minister issued this warning a few weeks ago.
The B-1B Lancers stationed at Andersen Air Force Base support Americas continuous bomber presence in the Asia Pacific. The bombers can reach Korea in two to three hours.
Lots of areas look like they've received heavy shelling or bombing, so I'm guessing it is an Army artillery practice range or an AF bombing range. Lots of the structures, planes and tracked vehicles could be used for aiming and identification practice for the airmen coming out of Mountain Home AFB.
Based on the description below, Saylor Creek may be getting a lot of use now.
Saylor Creek is a 110,000-acre bombing and training range in southern Idaho. It is associated with Mountain Home Air Force Base, located 25 miles north of the range, but is used by aircrews from other bases as well. The range is primarily used by flying forces training for air to ground warfare, and is covered with simulated hostile radar facilities, most of which are moveable electronic "threats," like those used on the Nellis Range in Nevada and elsewhere. Simulated surface to air missile batteries, employing "Smokey SAM" simulated rockets, are in use on the range. Visual targets, electronic warfare training, and live bombing are also components of the range's function. The Air Force has made numerous attempts to expand the range, efforts normally defeated by opposition from environmental groups and locals.
Mega Loud B-1 Lancer Bomber Takeoff. (example)
Shopped
Yep.
Oh well, but I’ll still bet a B1B is loud flying low.
Thanks - sloppy on my part. Kim Jong-un has said he wants to do an EMP attack on the United Stats - would require ‘the bomb’ be made small enough and light enough to sit on an ICBM that could explode 125 miles over Denver... I was thinking the whole package. Yes, Kim Jong-un could send some bombs over by freighter - so-called suitcase nukes...or larger - but we would totally take out all of North Korea after the first flash. He knows that - I suspect that’s why he’s going for the EMP...
I was headed out to Hueco Tanks state park back in the 80’s with friends when we intersected one on an empty highway in the middle of nowhere. It was flying Nap of the Earth and we had my Trans AM pegged, with the t-tops out. I saw this spec in the distance, really low and wondered out loud at what it was. I could see we were going to meet it. A few seconds later I was all hot damn, it’s a B-1!!!
That sucker thundered right over us at “you could conceivably hit it with a rock” altitude and it was definitely a super badass moment!
Awesome.
How do you think ISIS felt when the B1-B’s dropped this load on them in Kobani?
https://twitter.com/TX_1/status/521150916679172096
Talk about an awesome moment.
My Syrian Kurd friends still remember this one.
“Shopped”
Painting. “Power,” by Dru Blair.
Hate to tell you this, but NK has the bomb.
My men and I were on the Hot Pad at Grand Forks AFB removing a Minuteman III airframe in its shipping container from a C-141. The operation takes quite awhile because it rolls out at about one foot per minute.
Anyway, I was at the left rear side of the receiving trailer and my two NCOs and the two spotters were all watching the container as we rolled the missile off. All of a sudden we heard a loud rumbling noise then things started to shake. My men stopped the operation and started to run toward the grass and a shallow ditch off the tarmac as they thought the missile had somehow had released itself from the internal carriage inside the container and was rolling off said carriage. I spun around and a B-1B was about 200 feet off the ground, full afterburner, wings swept back, flying the length of the runway. The B-1B then pulled up and left, went near-verticle.
The Bomb Wing on base had just got back from winning the SAC Bomb Competition and the returning winning crews were celebrating by buzzing the base. The B-1Bs were amazing.
Living on a Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War we had B-52Gs and then transitioned to B-1Bs. They both were loud. Air operations and maintenance were 24/7 365. The sound of those heavy bombers was amazing and there was hardly ever a break. The people who lived on base got used to the constant noise of those engines and many had trouble sleeping when they moved to places that did not have flight ops.
There is nothing more awe inspiring than watching and hearing a B-52G take off with the water injection, the noise and the black smoke, or a B-1B with 40ft blue flames shooting out of the engines while on afterburner.
Was standing on top of Granite mountain in Ft Irwin doing system stuff. You can see forever up there. Heard a jet down below somewhere, flying low. Never got a glimpse of what it was, but had to be someone playing low level penetration.
Great... :(
Ya, if a jet is flying BELOW you, while you’re standing on the ground.....its low.
I know that painting. The artist is Dru Blair, and the name of the painting is “Power”.
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