Gen. Tom Hobbins, head of US Air Forces in Europe, is not at all worried that his command has dropped some 600 fighters and nearly 50,000 personnel since the 1990s. The Daily Press of Hampton Roads, Va., reports that, during a stop at Langley AFB, Va., on Monday, Hobbins said that the USAFE reductions are offset, in part, by the growth of NATO, which has increased from 16 to 26 countries.
B-52 Stratofortresses popped up from the Middle East to North Africa to the Arctic in recent days, as the U.S. Air Force flexed the reach of its bomber fleet.