U.S. European Command confirmed rumors circulating for about the past two weeks yesterday that a contingent of B-1 bombers will indeed be deploying to Norway. “For the first time in Norway, more than 200 U.S. Air Force personnel from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, with an expeditionary B-1 Lancer bomber squadron, will arrive to support upcoming Bomber Task Force (BTF) missions out of Ørland Air Base, Norway,” a Eucom release said without providing any further details. “The Airmen will be a part of the advance team for scheduled missions in the coming weeks which will occur for a limited time. While at Orland, the airmen will conduct operations in the High North and work with allies and partners across the European theater,” reported Stars & Stripes.
Ørland is just over 300 miles from the Arctic Circle, about a half-hour’s flight time for a B-1. This means that Russia’s military complexes on the Kola Peninsula are well within strike range for the big bombers, a fact that the Russians undoubtedly will take notice of. According to a report in “The War Zone” website, “the deployment signals the Air Force’s increasing commitment to working alongside NATO allies and other partners on Russia’s northwest borders as well as its ability to work in the High North.”
Sputnik reports the Russian Embassy in Oslo earlier said that the activation of a foreign military presence in Norway, including the placement of U.S. strategic bombers, doesn’t contribute to overall stability in the region. It also pledged to monitor the situation and vowed to implement measures to defend the security of its country and region.