On July 10, two B-2A stealth bombers of the U.S. Air Force's 509th Bomber Wing took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and arrived at Royal Air Force Base Amberley in Australia on the same day. The B-2A stealth bomber deployed to Australia will begin dynamic force deployment operations and support the training of bomber task forces.
Photo: B-2A lands at RAF Base Amberley Image source: U.S. Pacific Air Force website
Pictured: B-2A lands at RAF Base Amberley, this aircraft is numbered 82-1068 Image source: U.S. Pacific Air Force website
The U.S. Pacific Air Force announced on its official website on July 10 that two B-2A stealth bombers arrived at Royal Air Force Base Amberley, Australia, on the same day, and the bombers were deployed as part of the rotation of bombers in Australia to support the military posture agreement between the United States and Australia.
Lt. Col. Andrew Kusgaard, commander of the 393rd Expeditionary Bombing Squadron, said the deployment of the B-2A to Australia was intended to demonstrate the linkage between the United States and its Australian allies and to demonstrate to the Australian allies the combat capabilities of the U.S. long-range penetrating strike force.
This is the first time since August 2020 that the B-2A has been deployed to the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility as part of a bomber task force. Located in Queensland in eastern Australia, RAF Base B-2 can reach a maximum range of 11,000 km and 18,000 km with a single air refueling of KC-135 deployed in Australia.
At the same time as the B-2A bombers arrived in Australia, the U.S. Marine Corps Darwin Rotational Force (MRF-D) conducted a joint exercise with the Australian Army's 1st and 13th Brigades in Western Australia.
Photo: "Coolon" is one of the largest joint exercises between the United States and Australia Image source: Australian Department of Defence
Previously, Australia has repeatedly issued voices to invite the US military to deploy B-2A stealth bombers in Australia, and on March 23 this year, a US Air Force B-2 stealth bomber took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri for "dynamic military deployment" at Royal Air Force Base Amberley, with a total duration of about 50 hours. During deployment, the B-2A conducted joint exercises with the local U.S. Air Force F-16C and royal Australian Air Force F-35A and E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
Photo: Australian Air Force and U.S. Pacific Air Force conduct joint exercises Photo: U.S. Pacific Air Force website
The Royal Australian Air Force, after retiring all FB-111Cs, had been seeking a long-range bombing aircraft from the United States, and neither the U.S. B-1B nor B-2A in service could be sold to Australia, and Australia's budget was insufficient to support its maintenance of such aircraft. Therefore, in recent years, many senior retired generals in Australia have publicly stated that Australia should introduce B-2A long-range bombers from the US military to help control the situation in the western Pacific.
Senior U.S. defense officials have repeatedly said they will improve the level of military cooperation between the United States and Australia, and deploy more military forces in Australia to meet challenges from China. Relevant people in the US Department of Defense recently said that they would strengthen the infrastructure of Guam and Australia and increase investment in military construction in the Pacific region. And "in the future we will see new fighter and bomber rotation deployments, and there will be more bilateral military cooperation in the future." ”
In response to the increasingly intensive military cooperation between the United States and Australia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian once said that this fully exposed the true intention of the United States to militarize the Indo-Pacific and spare no effort to contain and contain China.