A historic landing in Iceland took place on the 28th. A Stealth B-2 Spirit bomber landed for the first time at the Naval Air Station in Keflavik, Iceland. The final destination was not Iceland, but a base in Great Britain. That and two other B-2 Spirits were sent to an RAF base. USAF bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, USA.
“The purpose of the flights was to conduct theater familiarization with aircrew and demonstrate America's commitment to allies and partners through the global deployment of our military forces. U.S. Strategic Command regularly tests and assesses the availability of strategic assets to ensure we can honor our security commitments,” said the statement from Us Aiforce.
Keflavik Air Base in Iceland serves as a strategic hub for the Arctic Air Force expanding USAF capability in the region. It is worth ing that the USA has air bases installed in friendly nations and the United Kingdom is one of them.
“The use of strategic bombers in Iceland helps exercise Naval Air Station Keflavik as a forward location for the B-2, ensuring it is engaged, positioned and ready with credible force to secure, deter and defend the US and its allies. increasingly complex security environment”, completes the statement from the USAF.
The bomber's stay in Iceland was short, it did not even cut the engines. The aircraft performed a refueling with the engines running. This procedure is known as “hot well replenishment”. This method of refueling the aircraft saves time and trains the crew involved for a real scenario where this can be an advantage.
Source of : The Aviationist / Adaptation: Aeroflap
