B-52s Train in Australia

B-52s from the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Andersen AFB, Guam, flew 12 sorties down to Australia over a 10-day period this month to conduct close air support training with Australian joint terminal attack controllers. These activities were part of Exercise Hamel 2010, a large Australian military drill in Queensland that brought together Australian, New Zealand, and US forces. The B-52s flew missions ranging from 11 hours to 13 hours to get to the Australian training areas and back. The bombers in this expeditionary unit are assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., but are currently deployed to Guam as part of the United States’ continual, rotational bomber presence in the Pacific region. USAF officials said this was the sixth time that US bombers have participated in Exercise Hamel since July 2006. (Pearl Harbor-Hickam report by TSgt. Aries D. Early) (See also BUFFs Go Down Under and Reaching Out Down Under from the Daily Report archives.)