{"id":30098,"date":"2021-10-20T19:36:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T19:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/20\/b-1b-bombers-return-to-diego-garcia-island-base-after-15-years\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:13:27","slug":"b-1b-bombers-return-to-diego-garcia-island-base-after-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/10\/20\/b-1b-bombers-return-to-diego-garcia-island-base-after-15-years\/","title":{"rendered":"B-1B bombers return to Diego Garcia island base after 15 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B-1B Lancer jets this week deployed to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for the first time in more than 15 years, again boosting the bomber presence on the British atoll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. military uses Diego Garcia as a strategic point for launching operations in the Indo-Pacific, and has brought all three types of bomber aircraft to the atoll within the past two years. The B-1 does not wield nuclear weapons, but carries the Air Force\u2019s largest payload of guided and unguided conventional weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Force photos showed an undisclosed number of B-1Bs arriving in the British Indian Ocean Territory on Sunday. About 200 airmen from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, accompanied the planes, the service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t