The United States sent a squadron of bombers to the Russian border

For the first time, the United States dispatches a squadron of B-1B bombers on an expeditionary mission to Norway. The US European Command has announced that four bombers and more than 200 personnel will be sent to Norway. According to the command, the planes will perform training flights. The publication told more about this. with the BBC.

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The planes will be sent from Dyce Air Force Base in Texas, where the 7th US Air Force Bomber Wing is stationed. They will be temporarily deployed at Erland Base of the Royal Norwegian Air Force.

Over the course of several weeks, the aircraft will take part in various training operations in the Arctic region, including together with US allies and partners.

“Operational readiness and the ability to support allies and partners by responding quickly and quickly are critical to the overall successful outcome. Our strong partnership with Norway is important to us, and we look forward to new opportunities in the future to advance our collective defense,” said Gen. Jeff Harrigian, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa.

Although this is the first time American bombers will fly from a Norwegian airfield, they have already conducted joint exercises with the Norwegian Air Force. In September 2020, the B-1B, taking off from Dyce airbase, reached the North Pole with refueling over the Arctic Ocean, and then conducted exercises with the Norwegian Air Force over the Norwegian Sea and Greenland.

Strategically important region

The Arctic region is extremely important for countries that have access to the Arctic Ocean, since there are concentrated minerals and important transport routes.

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However, it is also important from a military point of view - the Russian Northern Fleet is located in the Arctic region, which is essentially one of five military districts. His area of ​​responsibility includes the Arctic.

The fleet's fleet includes nuclear submarines with nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles; The surface fleet includes the only Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, as well as the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy. In addition, the fleet includes numerous land and air units.

Recently, Russia has been investing huge amounts of money in the development of military infrastructure. The country has restored former Soviet military airfields and built two large military bases - Northern Clover on Kotelny Island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago in the eastern Russian Arctic and Arctic Trefoil in the northwest, which provides air defense.

This base is located in the Franz Josef Land archipelago on the island of Alexandra Land, far from the coast and controls the water area of ​​the Northern Ocean over a large area. An airfield is located near the base, which can receive aircraft of any class.

On Wrangel Island and Cape Schmidt, Sopka-2 route-based radar systems were installed to monitor the airspace over the Chukchi Sea to the coast of Alaska.

In Russia, even special arctic military equipment is being created, which is demonstrated during parades on Red Square, for example, the TOR-M2DT anti-aircraft complex.

Russia has deployed a powerful Bastion anti-ship system in Chukotka, the easternmost Russian region, which is located across the Bering Strait from American Alaska.

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The Russian strategy in the Arctic was determined in March 2020, when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree “On the foundations of the country's state policy in the Arctic until 2035”. The main tasks in the field of defense are called "increasing the combat capabilities of groups of armed forces and other troops in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation" and "maintaining their combat potential at a level that guarantees the solution of tasks to repel aggression against Russia and its allies."

That is, Russia has openly announced that it will increase its presence in the region.

US presence

Experts believe that the United States is a little late in building up its presence in the Arctic. The study, "America's Arctic Moment: A Superpower Competition in the Arctic until 2050," by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, says the US is roughly ten years behind.

Researchers believe that the United States needs to take serious diplomatic and military steps to maintain its influence, as well as strengthen economic and scientific activities in close contact with partners.

However, experts also believe that the influence will increase with the expansion of the presence.

In recent years, several American defense structures have issued documents that describe their strategy in the Arctic region: the Coast Guard, the Pentagon, and separately the US Air Force and Navy.

The four main points of the US Air Force strategy, published in July 2020, include vigilance in all areas; power projection through combat readiness; cooperation with allies and partners and preparation for conducting Arctic operations.

Dangerous escalation

The Rockwell B-1B Lancer is a supersonic long-range bomber that was withdrawn from nuclear forces. After a series of modernization programs, the aircraft is capable of carrying modern cruise missiles and guided bombs on 24 hardpoints.

Ilya Kramnik, a Russian military expert from the Russian Council on International Affairs, explained that this bomber hypothetically poses a threat not only to the Arctic forces, but also to the entire territory of Russia, since with its range of almost five thousand kilometers, it can fly deep into its territory.

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He believes that the deployment of a bomber squadron at an airfield in Norway is a rehearsal for the transfer of forces in the event of a worsening of relations with Russia.

“This is such a demonstration of the capabilities of creating a strike force in a short time. Each such aircraft can carry 24 missiles, and if we assemble, say, five aircraft, then we get more than a hundred cruise missiles in a salvo, and this is already serious,” he clarified.

Russia, according to Kramnik, has MiG-31 fighter-interceptors in the region at the base in Monchegorsk, and exercises are regularly held to transfer additional forces.

“Parties in the Arctic are flirting in their desire to prove and demonstrate something. However, everything that is possible has already been proven and demonstrated many decades ago; nothing new has been added since the Cold War, except that the scale has decreased. And these demonstrations are taking place against the backdrop of an extremely low level of dialogue - it has never been so low, so narrow and so aggressive in tone around,” the expert noted.

These conditions, he believes, are dangerous because in the event of further escalation due to an error, an armed conflict may arise.

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