US Air Force set for combat exercises near LAC

New Delhi The US Air Force is preparing to conduct combat exercises near the India-China border as part of a fly-over mission in the coming days along with the B-2 stealth bomber. If this happens, Chinese air security on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh could be threatened.

According to the US Air Force, this mission is a routine deployment of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whitman Air Force Base, not a combat mission. This war exercise is an effort to prepare and train bombers to advance into the highly sensitive Indian Ocean region.

US bomb carrier B-2 is already assisting and supporting the Indian Navy in Diego Garcia, the island off the east coast of India. B-2 aircraft made a direct 30-hour trip from Whiltman to Diego Garcia in Missouri to attack Taliban targets in the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

According to a report by the US Air Force, this bomber task force mission will be carried out anywhere, anytime with the aim of preparing combat commanders for deadly, long-range geographic combat. Such missions occur regularly, yet can be interpreted as supporting India and other US allies in the Pacific Ocean.

B-2 bomb fighter aircraft may have been in the US Air Force for 30 years, but the stealth bomber is now in the process of being equipped with new computers, sensors, weapons and electronics. The Air Force is making rapid progress with a new B-2 sensor, known as the Defense Management System. Hence avoids the threat of enemy air strikes.