US B-1B bomber deployed to West Pacific Air Base

The United States has sent at least four bombers to a military hub in the western Pacific amid tensions in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula.

The US supersonic B-1B jets were deployed to Guam, the westernmost US territory.

The Chinese Defense Ministry and the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters

The deployment came as China maintained its military presence around Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory, and the disputed maritime features in the South China Sea. On the Korean Peninsula, North Korea continued its weapons tests. Guam is an ideal staging area for projecting military power, as it is just over 1,600 miles away from Taiwan and the South China Sea and 1,800 miles away from South Korea.

What to know

According to a photo posted by the US Air Force’s 28th Bomb Wing, a bomber unit located at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, a pair of B-1B bombers landed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam last Friday for the bomber mission Force 25- 1 mission.

Two other B-1B bombers were visible in the photo as the aircraft, also known as the Lancer, parked on the flight line. Another photo provided by the 28th Bomb Wing indicated that the first pair of Lancers arrived in Guam as early as last Wednesday for the same mission.

The photos of B-1B bombers in Guam were taken by Technical Sergeant Robert Trujillo. A caption reads: “The United States supports the vision of the Indo-Pacific as a free and open region composed of nations that abide by the international rules-based order.”

The Bomber Task Force mission is consistent with the National Defense Strategy’s goals of “strategic predictability and operational unpredictability,” US Pacific Air Forces previously said, as the bombers operate from overseas and continental US locations.

Bomber Task Force deployments usually last a month or more, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The 28th Bomb Wing last deployed its B-1B bombers to Guam last summer for Bomber Task Force 24-6, with the bombers returning home in late June.

In 2020, the US Air Force ended the continuous bomber presence in Guam and replaced it with a Bomber Task Force deployment model, which keeps its bomber force permanently based on the US mainland, with the bombers regularly deployed to Guam on rotation.

The B-1B bomber has the largest conventional weapons payload in the United States Air Force inventory, capable of carrying 75,000 pounds of ordnance – bombs, naval mines and missiles. It can fly at supersonic speed to Mach 1.2 with an intercontinental flight range.

The deployment of bombers to Guam followed the arrival of US F-35A stealth fighters at Kadena Air Base on Japan’s Okinawa Island last Monday. Kadena is a US military hub in the region, being the closest US air base to Taiwan at a distance of 370 miles.

Guam and Okinawa form part of the US multi-layered island chain strategy, which seeks to limit China’s military activities by using allied or friendly territories. Guam is the center of the second island chain, while Okinawa belongs to the first island chain.

What people say

The US Pacific Air Forces said in a press release: “This (Bomber Task Force) deployment is in support of Pacific Air Forces training efforts with (a) allies, partners and joint forces and strategic deterrence missions to strengthen the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The US Air Force’s 28th Bomb Wing said in a caption: “Bomber Task Force Missions are designed to demonstrate Pacific Air Forces’ ability to deter, deny and dominate any influence or aggression from adversaries or competitors alongside allied and partner forces.”

The US Air Force said in a fact sheet: “It (B-1B bomber) can rapidly deliver massive amounts of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time.”

What happens next

It remains to be seen when the B-1B bombers will fly their first mission out of Guam. The US Air Force is likely to increase its aircraft presence in the western Pacific in preparation for contingencies involving China and North Korea.

Update 01/21/25, 7:25 PM ET: This article has been updated with a press release from the US Pacific Air Forces.