Air Force Global Strike Command concerns
While USAF's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) ordered a safety stand-down of the complete B-1B Lancer fleet on 20 April 2021, Minot's B-52H Stratofortresses fly to the Middle East.
Following a B-1B ground emergency on 8 April at Ellsworth AFB (SD), while discovering a discrepancy with an augmenter fuel pump filter housing, as a precaution measure, the AFGSC commander directed one-time inspections on all B-1B aircraft to resolve this issue.
This was shortly after a pair of B-1Bs launched from their home station Ellsworth on 6 April conducting a long range mission over the Aegean Sea. That single-day Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission spanned about 28 hours and took the supersonic bombers and crews nearly 12,000 nautical miles during their round-trip operation. As for the Lancer fleet: After further analysis, the AFGSC commander stood down the fleet because it was determined a more invasive inspection was needed to ensure the safety of aircrews. Individual B-1B bombers will return to flight when they are deemed safe to fly by USAF officials.
The last ordered safety stand-down of the USAF's B-1B fleet occured on 7 June 2018. This, followed by a safety investigation process after an emergency landing of a Lancer in Midland (TX) while having an issue with ejection seat components. Scramble Magazine reported on 8 June 2018 on this incident.
On 23 April 2021, two B-52H Stratofortress bombers assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing, based at Minot AFB (ND), conducted a short-notice, long-range BTF mission into the Middle East.
The two 5th BW, MT coded B-52Hs 60-0023 (flagship 23rd Bomb Squadron Barons) and 60-0037 (69th Bomb Squadron Knighthawks), with callsigns 'Grimm01/02', flew from Minot to and over Denmark, over Poland, then over a large part of eastern Europe to the Middle East.
After arriving at Al Udeid Air Base (Qatar), it was stated by US Central Command (USCENTCOM) that the B-52H bomber aircraft are deployed to Al Udeid AB to protect US and coalition forces as they conduct drawdown operations from Afghanistan.
Photos: USAF