BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Deterrence: international style. Every six months, more than 300 Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen from bomb squadrons based at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., or Minot Air Force Base, N.D., routinely arrive at Guam and take up station at America's most distant sovereign outpost in the Pacific.
Since March 2004, B-2 Spirits and B-52 Stratofortresses have quietly created a persistent umbrella of power projection and deterrence in the Pacific through the Continuous Bomber Presence mission.
"The continuous bomber presence in Guam helps maintain stability and security in the western Pacific, while allowing our units to become familiar with operating in the Pacific theater and out of a deployed location," said Brig. Gen. James Browne, Air Force Global Strike Command director of operations. "It also provides unique training opportunities for the bomber crews when they integrate into PACOM joint or coalition exercises, operations and training."
Bomber forces are no strangers to diplomatic maneuvers. In the 1950s and 1960s, showy worldwide deployments of B-29s, B-47s, B-58s and B-52s capable of nuclear or conventional delivery expanded diplomatic options in many crises. This form of force-without-war was often targeted at the Soviet Union, with operations such as "Chrome Dome," but the bomber deployments were also intended to influence so-called Third World nations wavering between the Western allies and Soviet Bloc as both camps vied for influence.
A prime example of this is Lebanon. The Eisenhower Administration wanted to discourage the spread of a Soviet influence after a coup there in 1958 and a Saturday Evening Post article quoted a Strategic Air Command general as saying, "How could you land in Lebanon with practically a handful of Marines the way we did unless they were backed up by a powerful threat?"
That "handful of troops" eventually numbered more than 14,000, but the point about bomber diplomacy was no less true. Gen. Nathan F. Twining, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1958, advised President Eisenhower that sending SAC bombers forward would be a highly visible move and Eisenhower liked it. Moving the bombers showed the Soviet Union "readiness and determination without implying any threat of aggression," Eisenhower wrote in his memoirs.
While Cold War bomber deployments were usually direct reactions to crises, the CBP, on the other hand, is more enduring. Each combatant commander requests forces for theater security cooperation. For Pacific Command, those forces may include air, land and sea elements. It aims to reassure allies and confirm strong U.S. commitment to the region. Bombers are establishing deterrence through a long-term posture rather than occasional crisis response.
From their island base, they can stage long training flights to any point on the compass to drop live ordnance at training ranges, participate in multinational exercises or even star at regional air shows.
"Exercises and air shows in the region are ideal forums to showcase our aircraft and equipment," said Lt. Col. Ryan Link, 20th Bomb Squadron director of operations, who recently returned from a CBP mission. "Through one-on-one engagement, they also contribute toward interoperability with our regional partners. As air ambassadors for the United States, we actively promote stability and security in the region while executing our CBP missions."
"Eight years of repeated, realistic simulation of combat missions assures our friends and allies of U.S. military's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region," said Browne.