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~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Ellsworth Air Force Base, South DakotaEllsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located about 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assigned to the Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force, the 28 BW is one of the Air Force's two B-1B Lancer wings.The mission of the 28th Operations Group, whose motto is to find and kill the enemy, is to provide combat-ready B-1 bomber aircrews for world-wide...

The B-1B Lancer bomber flew Saturday over the Strait of Hormuz... the Red Sea, its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Egypt’s Suez Canal. Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia also took part. The B-1B came from the 37th Bomb Squadron based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

A B-1 Bomber has crashed near Broadus Mt. 4 crew ejected with minor injuries.

The last 28th Bomb Wing B-1B Lancer received the necessary modifications to operate the Sniper advanced targeting pod Oct. 18. The advanced targeting pod acts as a long-range camera, which can pinpoint targets for precision strikes and close-air-support missions. "It's hard to imagine doing close-air support without it," said Capt. William Louie, the 34th Bomb Squadron weapons systems officer. "The sniper pod and the B-1 go together very well, especially with the expanded mission of the bomber." Since its combat debut in 2008, the Sniper pod has become an invaluable tool in assisting coalition servicemembers on the ground in hostile...

Last week, we wrote that the Air Force Council, the blue suiters board of directors that advises the air chief, was considering deep cuts to force structure to meet aggressive savings targets laid out by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. One option they are reportedly considering is early retirement of all 66 B-1B Lancer bombers, last delivered in the late 1980s. Yesterday, the Lancer fleet got a hearty shout-out from new installed Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus. “It is a great platform,” he told senators at his confirmation hearing. “It carries a heck of a lot of bombs… and it has...

Air Force officials released their basing decision for the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper ground control stations June 21. The final bases approved by the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force are: Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. and Ellsworth AFB, S.D. "The Air Force uses a deliberate, repeatable and transparent process to address basing needs. These bases are the right locations for the next set of MQ-1/9 ground control stations," said Kathleen Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary for installations. "They will provide the Air Force with the right kind of synergy for training purposes." The MQ-1 ground...

How do you figure out whether a foam firefighting system in an air force hangar is set up correctly and works? Well you turn it on for a few seconds, to make sure it's got pressure and everything. First you set up a scaffolding so you can record the event and show the flow coming out of all nozzles. And then you let 'er rip. After 15 seconds you can see foam is covering all areas it has to, so the test is successful. Shut 'er off. Uh, guys? Shut 'er off? Aw crap. Whatever was meant to shut off...

1/6/2006 - CAMP BUCCA, Iraq (AFPN) -- Security forces from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., are serving in southern Iraq this winter. Twenty-four of the more than 300 Airmen who make up the 586th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron are from the 28th Security Forces Squadron at Ellsworth. They provide base, convoy and area security here -- home to the largest theater internment facility in Iraq. Tech. Sgt. Michael Taylor, the 586th’s flight sergeant, is the senior ranking member of the Ellsworth team here. The sergeant is in charge of the mobile patrols for the base. “The threat is here pretty...

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) sat tense, crouched and glowering as the base-closing commission delivered its verdict about Ellsworth Air Force Base in the ballroom of a Crystal City hotel yesterday, then leapt up gleefully when the bomber base's death sentence was commuted. The 44-year-old's political career may have been spared as well. Last fall, Thune unseated Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in part by claiming that a Republican tight with the White House would have a better chance of saving the perennially impaired Ellsworth, a Cold War arsenal in the middle of the prairie. So it was potentially...

Panel spares S. Dakota air base, senator relieved Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:48 PM ET By David Lawder WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A military panel on Friday voted to keep open South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Base, a decision that overturned a Pentagon recommendation and spared the state's Republican senator a major political defeat. The decision to preserve the base for the Cold War-era B-1 bomber was a victory for Sen. John Thune, a freshman Republican who beat former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle last November based on his claims that he would be better placed to save the facility....

WASHINGTON - The base closing commission voted today to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota - rejecting the Pentagon's plan to close it - as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. The surprise decision was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to save the base. Thune, a freshman Republican, unseated then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle...

Commission Votes to Save Ellsworth Base By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The base closing commission voted Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota - rejecting the Pentagon's plan to close it - as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. The surprise decision was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing some 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to...

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever.

Lawmakers and residents in towns with military bases targeted for closure promised Friday to fight to get off the list, saying their communities would be crippled and national security would be damaged. "The battle starts today," one mayor said. South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base, home to intercontinental missiles and long-range bombers during its 63-year history, and the nation's first submarine base, in Connecticut, were among the 150 military installations from Maine to Hawaii listed in the first round of base closures in a decade. The bases are an important, often crucial, source of jobs, and communities and politicians have...

By now you've probably heard about the off course airliner that grabbed national headlines Saturday by landing on an Ellsworth runway. But what you don't know, is what happened while the plane was coming in. Today three runway painters count themselves very lucky to be alive. Mike Palmer was one of the three painters repainting the runway's navigational stripes when they noticed the plane descending. At first they thought it was a fly-over, but when they saw the landing gear come down…they knew there was a problem. The painters did not receive any advance warning since Ellsworth Air Force Base...

<p>EAGAN, Minn. (AP) - Two pilots at the controls of a Northwest Airlines flight when it landed at the wrong airport have been suspended from flying pending an investigation, an airline spokesman said Monday.</p> <p>Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the two pilots "have been held from service" until the review is complete. No other details were released.</p>

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, S.D., landed a few miles off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for more than three hours while their crew was interrogated. Passengers on Northwest Flight 1152, an Airbus A-319 from St. Paul, expected to be welcomed to Rapid City Regional Airport on Saturday, but after about five minutes they were told to close their window shades and not look out, said passenger Robert Morrell.

Airliner Lands at Air Force Base by Mistake, Passengers Told Not to Peek The Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, S.D., landed a few miles off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for more than three hours while their crew was interrogated. Passengers on Northwest Flight 1152, an Airbus A-319 from St. Paul, expected to be welcomed to Rapid City Regional Airport on Saturday, but after about five minutes they were told to close their window shades and not look out,...