[Cap Huff]

I know I don't really have a need to know, but I can't help wondering why the B-52's would be based in England. They could make it to Iraq from there, but they'd have to have overflight clearance from uncooperative countries (i.e. Germany and France). Any other route would be a zigzag.

Maybe they are there for other purposes.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Maybe they are there for other purposes.

At the rate things are going, bombing runs on Paris and Berlin may soon be in order. . .

[Salgak]

Logistics. B-52s have been operating out of RAF Fairford for DECADES: we deployed there with my old squadron (the long-since-deactivated 69 BMS) back in the 1980s. The runway is long enough and has sufficient weight capability for heavy B-52 ops. "Heavies" (i.e. B-52/ C-5/ C-17/ KC-10) need far more robust runways than do fighters or other smaller aircraft. It's a simple matter of civil engineering.

Also, it's VISIBLE. There's the psychological effect of American B-52s deploying forward. Even if the REAL raids come out of places like Diego Garcia, with no media presence, no civilian protesters, etc. . .

That's the unclassified, common-sense answers, anyway. . .

[CasearianDaoist]

They fly the Med, I'd bet. The biggest problem is ordnace logistics - they take quite a load. Alot of that is prepositioned in the UK. SOme will no doubt be stationed in Diego Garcia. Note that the DoD has been pretty cagey about announcing heavy bomber assignments. We really do not know what's up.

[Tommyjo]

One possible route - Denmark, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, out into the Black Sea and then into Turkey and into the Northern No Fly Zone. Either deploying ALCMs for targets below the NFZ or deploying the likes of JDAMs.

[Robert_Paulson2]

yup... maybe.

The bear is being warned I suspect.