Two US Air Force B-1B Lancers have wrapped up a 32-hour round-trip sortie, concluding operations over the South China Sea, the Pacific Air Forces Command announced.
The bombers from the 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D. carried out the tasking as part of a joint US Indo-Pacific Command and US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) bomber task force mission.
The sortie came after a five-ship strike group centered around Chinese PLA Navy’s aircraft carrier Liaoning on April 28 made a transit between two islands in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture for the second time this month.
On the same day, China deployed ships and aircraft to expel US Navy destroyer USS Barry from the South China Sea, according to media reports. The US Navy denied such an encounter took place, saying no “unsafe or unprofessional” behavior was witnessed.
The bomber mission also comes on the heels of an April 22 CONUS-based bomber bilateral training where the B-1 integrated with six US Air Force F-16s and 15 Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) F-15s near Japan.
