A B-1 and two Typhoons fly over Vilnius on March 3, 2021. LITHUANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY
Two U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers took off from their temporary home at Orland air base in Norway on Tuesday, looped through international air space over the Baltic Sea then turned south and barreled along the NATO-Russia frontier.
With a pair of NATO Typhoon fighters flanking it, one of the swing-wing bombers roared at low altitude over the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The dramatic sortie had at least three goals. To reassure the governments and populations of NATO’s most vulnerable member states. To demonstrate to Russia the United States’ clear intention to defend its allies.
And, more subtly, to lure Russian forces into responding—and thus giving U.S. reconnaissance aircraft an opportunity to gather useful intelligence.
As the B-1 flew over Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, a U.S. Air Force RC-135V electronic eavesdropping plane—supported by a USAF KC-135 tanker—lurked near Murmansk in northern Russia, home of the Russian Northern Fleet and other major forces.
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Update #1: U.S. bomber flies over Baltic states in show of solidarity: U.S. Air Force (Reuters)
Update #2: US Sends Bombers From Norway In "Low Flyover" Of Baltics Near Russian Base (Zero Hedge)
WNU Editor: There are currently four B-1 bombers based at Ørland Air Force Station, Norway .... Message to Russia? Four B-1 Bombers Have Arrived in Norway (National Interest).
