Exercise Carpathian Spring, an annual bilateral capacity-building exercise between the United States and Romania commenced at Otopeni Air Base and Campia Turzii in Romania. C-130Js and airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany, are participating in the week-long exercise, along with US Army and Romanian military personnel. Air-dropping Romanian paratroopers on Monday, the exercise’s opening day, Romania’s uncongested airspace and dynamic terrain through the Carpathian Mountains offered the rare opportunity in Europe for mountainous, low-level flight training. “The mission today was very good,” said 37th Airlift Squadron C-130J pilot Col. Edward Watson, who leads the Ramstein contingent. He added, “We met all of the Romanian objectives today and got all of the jumpers out safely.” (Otopeni report by TSgt. Jocelyn Rich)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
