{"id":26522,"date":"2020-05-07T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/07\/balance-the-operations-tempo-of-the-small-and-aging-bomber-fleet\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:01:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:01:59","slug":"balance-the-operations-tempo-of-the-small-and-aging-bomber-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/05\/07\/balance-the-operations-tempo-of-the-small-and-aging-bomber-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Balance the operations tempo of the small and aging bomber fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The great bard William Shakespeare characterized the world as a stage in which a multitude of actors continually enter and exit. One such actor is the Eighth Air Force\u2019s bomber force, which has steadily deployed for nearly two decades supporting operations like Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Freedom\u2019s Sentinel, as well as continuous bomber presence operations<\/a> within the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, flying 50-plus-year-old B-52s, just completed a nine-month continuous bomber presence rotation to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam \u2014 the longest bomber deployment of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April marked an important turning point for the \u201cMighty Eighth,\u201d as all operational squadrons could be found at their home stations. The respite, however, was short-lived, as U.S. strategic bombers continue bomber task force missions in support of the National Defense Strategy-directed Dynamic Force Employment initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bomber task force approach, also known as BTF, offers a tailored support package of personnel and aircraft to enable combatant commanders\u2019 objectives. The scalable nature of a BTF increases the number of possible operating locations due to its smaller and more agile footprint, which equates to greater flexibility for the distribution of bombers across all geographic combatant commands. The inherent flexibility of a BTF complicates potential adversaries\u2019 decision calculus by projecting combat power from a variety of locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\t