Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Sundowner on April 18, 2020, 01:06:57 AM
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As COVID-19 continues to overshadow the news I thought this stood out as pretty significant from a strategic asset profile change aspect. This move provides at least 2 positive benefits: (1) Increased asset unpredictability and (2) decreased asset loss exposure in a possible future crisis.
(side note: Is it possible to leave the political aspects out of the discussion?)
Lets try. :)
Regards,
Sun
The U.S. Air Force has ended its uninterrupted rotations of bombers to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, which have been ongoing since 2004, as it shifts to a less predictable concept of operations. Five B-52H Stratofortresses left yesterday with no replacement aircraft in place, bringing an end to what the service had called the Continuous Bomber Presence Mission. This notably came just days after the bombers took part in a massive "elephant walk" readiness drill that also involved six KC-135R aerial refueling tankers, an RQ-4B Global Hawk drone, as well as a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone, and an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, which was seen as a significant statement of American resolve aimed (at) China.
Online aircraft tracker and friend of The War Zone @AircraftSpots spotted the five B-52Hs leaving Guam for their home at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on Apr. 16, 2020. The bombers used the very pointed callsign "SEEYA" for the transit.
USAF B-52Hs SEEYA01, 02, 03, 04 & 05 departed Andersen AFB, Guam en route home to Minot AFB, North Dakota. pic.twitter.com/woOBYDT8fq
— Aircraft Spots (@AircraftSpots) April 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/AircraftSpots/status/1250860112387792897
"In line with the National Defense Strategy, the United States has transitioned to an approach that enables strategic bombers to operate forward in the Indo-Pacific region from a broader array of overseas locations, when required, and with greater operational resilience, while these bombers are permanently based in the United States," U.S. Air Force Major Kate Atanasoff, a U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) spokesperson, confirmed in a statement to The War Zone. "U.S. strategic bombers will continue to operate in the Indo-Pacific, to include Guam, at the timing and tempo of our choosing."
Starting in 2004, the Air Force began deploying B-52s, as well as B-1B Bone supersonic bombers and B-2A Spirit stealth bombers, for six-month stints to Andersen on Guam as part of the Continuous Bomber Presence Mission. As its name indicates, the concept of operations was meant to ensure that at least one task force of long-range heavy bombers was in position at the immensely strategic base at all times to respond to potential contingencies in the Pacific Region. The bombers on Guam had been a cornerstone of U.S. power projection and deterrence capabilities to the region since then....
Article continues:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33057/the-continuous-strategic-bomber-presence-mission-to-guam-has-abruptly-ended-after-16-years
Also covered at:
https://www.airforcemag.com/air-force-ends-continuous-bomber-presence-in-guam/
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Who needs B52s when you can kill global economies with a little Chinese bat dog anteater blood soup?
Eagler
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And... at a time when tensions between U.S. and China are at their greatest.. what fool decided
this?
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And... at a time when tensions between U.S. and China are at their greatest.. what fool decided
this?
OK I'll bite. What exactly is foolish about a strategy which is less predictable?
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.. what fool decided this?
Someone with a much bigger view of the picture than the small corner viewed from down here.
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Someone with a much bigger view of the picture than the small corner viewed from down here.
Thank you Puma.
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Thank you Puma.
:D
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And then was Pearl Harbor... btw, remember the whiz kids?
:salute
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Someone with a much bigger view of the picture than the small corner viewed from down here.
Thank you Puma.
(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/26/f7/bFscSLBn_t.jpg) (http://imgbox.com/bFscSLBn)
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Someone with a much bigger view of the picture than the small corner viewed from down here.
Spoken like a true "front line grunt"
:salute
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Spoken like a true "front line grunt"
:salute
Indeed! Sometimes it’s too scary to see the whole picture. It interferes with flying for a living. :salute
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Indeed! Sometimes it’s too scary to see the whole picture. It interferes with flying for a living. :salute
More so on those 36 mile down legs.....
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More so on those 36 mile down legs.....
That’s for sure!
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Indeed! Sometimes it’s too scary to see the whole picture. It interferes with flying for a living. :salute
At the time... probably... having aged as I suspect you have... we learn lessons form our mistakes and
quite simply put... the U.S. IMHO has learned nothing... China is quite possibly the new 1930s-1940s the
Japan... are u willing to take the risk?
:salute
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At the time... probably... having aged as I suspect you have... we learn lessons form our mistakes and
quite simply put... the U.S. IMHO has learned nothing... China is quite possibly the new 1930s-1940s the
Japan... are u willing to take the risk?
:salute
Politics again huh? Gotta have a national enemy even if there isn't one. :bhead
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Politics again huh? Gotta have a national enemy even if there isn't one. :bhead
(https://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/1984-orwell.jpg)
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Politics again huh? Gotta have a national enemy even if there isn't one. :bhead
Not politics, just pointing out we don't learn from the past... As SACS motto said,
"Peace through Strength"
:salute
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Not politics, just pointing out we don't learn from the past... As SACS motto said,
"Peace through Strength"
:salute
Whatever. I don't have any enemies. Tired of other people telling me that I do.
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Whatever. I don't have any enemies. Tired of other people telling me that I do.
What do you think the always changing face of terrorism is?
An always changing impossible to ever to defeat easy to spin up perpetually forever boggie man for us to always need protection from...
<S>
Eagler
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What do you think the always changing face of terrorism is?
An always changing impossible to ever to defeat easy to spin up perpetually forever boggie man for us to always need protection from...
<S>
Eagler
Terrorism is not an entity; it's an idea. The fight against terrorism has been the longest war in the history of the USA. The cost in dollars, casualties and lives is enormous.
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The fight against terrorism has been the longest war in the history of the USA.
I'd say the modern world (the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages). Some may say even longer.
'Wars' against abstract ideas is merely politics designed to influence the masses to participate while the politicians themselves don't have to.
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I'd say the modern world (the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages). Some may say even longer.
'Wars' against abstract ideas is merely politics designed to influence the masses to participate while the politicians themselves don't have to.
Agree :salute
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Not politics, just pointing out we don't learn from the past... As SACS motto said,
"Peace through Strength"
:salute
We have learned from the past, that is why we removed the bombers from Guam. Don't want to be caught flat footed like we did at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines like we did in December of 1941.
The threat to Guam is a swarm missile strike, possibly with nukes.
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We have learned from the past, that is why we removed the bombers from Guam. Don't want to be caught flat footed like we did at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines like we did in December of 1941.
The threat to Guam is a swarm missile strike, possibly with nukes.
The answer to this mystery is to put Nukes on Guam :devil
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The answer to this mystery is to put Nukes on Guam :devil
It won't stop a swarm missile strike.j
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It won't stop a swarm missile strike.j
But it would be a deterrent which was the point of SACs
motto "Peace through Strength"
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But it would be a deterrent which was the point of SACs
motto "Peace through Strength"
It would and is currently not a deterrent. I also dont think you grasp the concept of a swarm missile attack.
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Funny but I would have thought that international co-operation to solve a global medical crisis might supersede posturing for global nuclear war. That's just me though :rolleyes:
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Funny but I would have thought that international co-operation to solve a global medical crisis might supersede posturing for global nuclear war. That's just me though
"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."
- Jack Handy