Buff flexes global power

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica McConnell
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  The 23rd Bomb Squadron sent a B-52H Stratofortress on a 24-hour Global Power mission from Minot Air Force Base to France and Germany, then back to Minot in early May. The mission included four aerial refuelings, with one being a French tanker.

"We try to do a few Global Power sorties per year," said Capt. Jarred Prier, 5th Operations Support Squadron mission commander. "Flying a long endurance sortie is outstanding training for aircrew, since it forces them to train in a very real combat-like environment after flying for a long time to get to the Area of Responsibility."

Prier said that dealing with fatigue while running checklists, communicating with other aircraft, countering threats and releasing simulated weapons is challenging, to say the least.

"It is critically important that B-52 crewmembers are familiar with how they perform in those situations; it could mean the difference between mission success and mission failure in combat," continued Prier. "Crews often fly long-endurance sorties on our Guam deployments, but this particular mission was a rare opportunity."

He said that this was the first time in recent history that the 5th Bomb Wing has sent a B-52 to fly to France, refuel with French tankers, and participate in a French exercise. The flight planning and coordination for tanker support and diplomatic clearances took approximately three weeks to complete.

"The most challenging part is making the timing and fuel fit perfectly with the plan," said Prier. "By working from the target back, we were able to come up with takeoff times and fuel requirements. We were then able to build a tanker plan to coordinate with tanker units to ensure we had the 'legs' to perform the mission."

After they had the skeleton plan, the crew worked with the United States Embassy in France and Germany for overflight clearances. Once all these items were taken care of, coordination with intelligence was needed to ensure the best route of flight.

"We worked in three different airspaces - two in France and one in Germany," said Prier. "The two in France involved releasing simulated Joint Direct Attack Munitions and MK-82s on various counter-air target sets. In the German airspace, we worked close air support training with Romanian and Hungarian Joint Tactical Air Controllers."

One coordinating French pilot, Lt. Col. Herve Bissieres, said that his unit, the Polygone, enjoyed the mission and benefited from the experience as it was a unique training operation for them as well.

"Our unit, the Polygone, is a tri-national unit that includes U.S., German and French forces," said Bissieres. "Our main objective is to give operations training not only for aircrew from the three nations included, but for everyone who asks."

As Bissieres prepared an electronic warfare campaign, his U.S. counterpart, Lt. Col. Scott Case, thought it would be possible to book a mission with a B-52H.

"It was a great success," said Bissieres. "From the Fench Air Force point of view, it was tremendous training for our Refueling Squadron and our Rafale and Mirage 2000 squadron too. During the two weeks, U.S., German, English, Belgium and French aircraft flew together and performed an interesting electronic warfare training mission."

Bissieres said these missions are very useful because during those flights, they improve their capacity to fly with other foreign countries.

"Our slogan is to 'train as you fight and fight as you train'," continued Bissieres. "These types of flights prepare us for flight in real operations like those in Afghanistan."