US Air Force B-2 bombers flying from Andersen AFB, Guam, are dropping weapons on Australia’s Delamere bombing range this week as part of a bi-national exercise worked out last year. (News of the plan last year sparked a local outcry, as critics claimed that past training activity by Americans had spawned accidents.) The Christian Science Monitor reports that this marks the first time US aircraft have used the Australian range since the two countries signed a bilateral agreement in 2004.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.