A contingent of airmen and B-52s from the 69th Bomb Squadron at Minot AFB, N.D.—the Air Force’s newest operational B-52 squadron—is set to deploy to Guam this week for the first time since the squadron’s reactivation in September 2009. This deployment, which is part of US Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence at Andersen Air Force Base on the strategic island, also will mark the first time that the 5th Bomb Wing has had back-to-back deployments to Guam, reports the Minot Daily News. The 23rd BS is expected to return to Minot this week after a six-month stint at Andersen. The 69th BS’s elements also will be deployed for about six months.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…