Stunning moment B2 stealth bombers from the US fly in to RAF Fairford after carrying out training missions in Europe
- Three USAF B-2 stealth bombers landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire
- Deployment came from Lajes Field, Portugal and performed bombing runs
- USAR claims deadly B-2 bombers conducted NATO drills to ‘deter adversaries’
- Exercises come amid heightened tensions with Russia and Vladimir Putin
Three USAF B-2 stealth bombers landed in Britain today as they continued to conduct military drills in NATO airspace amid heightened tensions with Russia.
A Bomber Task Force deployment left the US base in Lajes Field, Portugal and performed bombing runs over Garvi Island before landing at RAF Fairford.
The first plane arrived at around 11.15am in the Cotswolds, with two arriving at the RAF station late in the afternoon, Gloucestershire Live reports.
According to a USAF press release, the B-2 Spirit aircraft – which are capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads – conducted military drills with US NATO partners in Europe to ‘deter adversaries’ and reassure ‘allies’.
Pictured: US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber lands at RAF Fairford in Goucestershire
A Bomber Task Force deployment left the US base in Lajes Field, Portugal and performed bombing runs over Garvi Island before landing at RAF Fairford
The first plane arrived at around 11.15am in the Cotswolds, with two arriving at the RAF station late in the afternoon, Gloucestershire Live reports
It was also claimed the exercises helped ‘enhance global stability and security’.
Lt. Gen Steven Basham, Deputy Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa, said: ‘Operating bombers from forward locations enables collective defense capabilities and provides the U.S. and NATO the strategic and operational capacity needed to deter adversaries while assuring our allies and partners’.
Previously the B-2 stealth bombers – developed under the Advanced Technology Bomber during Jimmy Carter’s administration – were based in Portugal.
A USAF spokesman at the time said the 65th Air Base Group at Lajes Field is ‘strategically located to provide support in combat operations’.
They added that conducting NATO drills enabled the USAF to build ‘enduring and strategic relationships necessary to confront a broad range of global challenges’.
The B-2 Spirit aircraft – capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads – conducted military drills with US NATO partners in Europe to ‘deter adversaries’
Pictured: US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber lands at RAF Fairford in Goucestershire
They added that conducting NATO drills enabled the USAF to build ‘enduring and strategic relationships necessary to confront a broad range of global challenges’
NATO, founded in 1949 to deter the expansionist USSR, has come under strain in recent years as member-states are accused of reneging treaty duties.
President Donald Trump, who famously designated the alliance ‘obsolete’, put European allies under pressure to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defence.
Military drills in NATO airspace come amid heightened tensions with Russia, which is accused by Western powers of bullying and aggressive behaviour.
Relations between Moscow and Western powers first soured after the former’s war with Georgia in 2008, backing separatists in the tiny Caucasian state.
They collapsed after Russia annexed Crimea and helped fuel Ukraine’s bloody civil war, which began after the toppling of the pro-Moscow regime in 2014.
Russia has also found itself at loggerheads with the US, Britain, and France in Syria, where it has backed Bashar al-Assad and Iran to the hilt since 2015.
President Vladimir Putin has lamented the collapse of the USSR, and accused NATO of provoking Russia by expanding the alliance after the Cold War.