Three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and more than 200 Airmen belonging to the 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, deployed to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPH-H), Hawaii, in support of U.S. Strategic Command’s Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission last month. During the BTF mission, the stealth bombers flew 37 sorties were flown for a total of 171 hours. Eight missions saw the batwing aircraft integrate with the local-based Hawaii Air National Guard 199th Fighter Squadron’s F-22 Raptor 5th generation aircraft.
As already explained, although bombers regularly rotate through the Indo-Pacific region “to integrate capabilities with key regional partners and maintain a high state of aircrew proficiency”, utilizing Andersen AFB in Guam, the Spirit stealth bombers have deployed twice to Hawaii supporting the BTF mission recently: the first time was in August 2018, during the B-2’s first deployment to JBPH-H, when the stealth bombers flew multiple local and long-duration sorties, conducted hot pit refueling at Wake Island and integrated with the local Raptors.
Dealing with the Raptors, one of the 509th Bomb Wing B-2 Spirit bomber along with two F-22 Raptors from the 199th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, took part in an air-to-air photo session and flew in formation near Diamond Head State Monument, Hawaii, after completing interoperability training on Jan. 15, 2019.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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