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Tensions continue to mount in the Indo-Pacific region due to China’s ongoing aggression toward Taiwan. ... To that end, the US has conducted joint military exercises with Australia, starting at the direction of former President Barack Obama. ... New reports indicate the US is now deploying bombers in Australia’s northern territory.

The U.S. military said it intercepted two Russian bombers near Alaska on Monday. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it detected two Russian bombers in Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone, which covers the international airspace outside of the U.S. and Canada near the far northern state. Two American F-16 fighter jets intercepted the Russian aircraft, which did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. The recent activity is “not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative,” NORAD noted in its press release.

U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers will lead fighter jets from Belgium, Germany, and 12 other countries across Europe’s skies on nuclear exercises Monday, amid reports Russia has increased the number of strategic bombers close to its border with NATO-member state Norway. The annual NATO training is going ahead despite rising fears President Vladimir Putin might consider a real nuclear strike in Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia sent a pair of nuclear-capable long-range bombers to patrol the skies over Belarus on Saturday, a mission intended to underline close defense ties between the two allies amid tensions with the West. The Russian Defense Ministry said the two Tu-22M3 strategic strike bombers practiced “performing joint tasks with the Belarusian air force and air defense.” Su-30 fighter jets that Russia has supplied to Belarus escorted the bombers. Saturday’s four-hour patrol marked Russia’s third such mission in Belarus since last month... ...The Belarusian leader wouldn’t elaborate on what kind of Russian weapons Belarus would be willing to...

Russian President Putin vowed to 'knock the teeth out' of nations who grab pieces of the state's vast territory Secretary of State Blinken warned Moscow the North Pole must remain 'free of conflict' at Thursday's summit His Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov hit back, saying the Kremlim saw 'no grounds' for conflict in the Arctic, but warned the West about militarising on Russia's doorstep and said the country would defend itself Comes as Russia revealed a massive polar military airbase, Nagurskoye, in the Franz Josef Land archipelago It has been heavily militarised with missiles, a radar system and a runway handling...

Two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at an Indonesian cathedral on Palm Sunday were newlyweds who belonged to a pro-Islamic State extremist group, police said Monday, as they raided the couple’s home. About 20 people were wounded in the powerful explosion outside the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island while worshippers celebrated the start of Holy Week. Both suspects were killed instantly when they rode a motorbike into the compound of the church, setting off an improvised explosive device known as a pressure-cooker bomb, police said. On Monday, Indonesian authorities said the pair had been married for about...

Two US long-range tactical bombers entered China’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday in an apparent show of force, just as the Chinese navy was conducting a series of simultaneous massive drills. Aviation tracker Aircraft Spots reported that two US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers left Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Tuesday morning and entered China’s ADIZ over the East China Sea, after refuelling in flight during the mission.US Air Force B-1B bomber. Photo: APSince the B1-B – which carries the biggest payload of any US bomber and – and is a departure from the fighter jets...

On July 21, two U.S Air Force B-1B bombers took off from Guam and headed west over the Pacific Ocean to the hotly contested South China Sea. The sleek jets made a low-level pass over the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its escorting fleet, which was exercising nearby in the Philippines Sea, according to images released by the U.S. military. The operation was part of the Trump administration’s intensifying challenge to China’s ruling Communist Party and its sweeping territorial claims over one of the world’s most important strategic waterways. While senior Trump officials launch diplomatic and rhetorical broadsides at...

On Friday, federal authorities evacuated all federal buildings in Portland after reports of a car bomb threat. The FBI is investigating the threat. “The FBI is aware of recent reporting regarding threats made against federal buildings in Portland,” the FBI’s Portland field office said in a statement. “We are investigating to determine the credibility of the threat, and we remain in touch with our law enforcement partners to share information.” The Bankruptcy Court cited a “threat of violence in the area” as the reason for its shutdown, The Oregonian reported. A source with knowledge of the situation told the paper that federal authorities received...

Full Title: WWII warbirds brought to life: The British and American aircraft and hero pilots that helped to defeat Nazi Germany - and the Luftwaffe planes that tried to stop them

RUSSIA has secretly installed nuclear missiles in Venezuela a US politician has sensationally claimed in a chilling echo of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said he believes Vladimir Putin's hidden nukes are now a direct threat to the "national security" of the United States. He made his astonishing allegations hours after Venezuela was pushed to the brink of civil war when opposition leader Juan Guaido called for rival Nicolas Maduro to be ousted from office. Diaz-Balart told Fox News if Maduro stays in power it could be "an open door for the Russians and for the Chinese...

A controversial academic today risked to wrath of Britain's veterans and their families after calling the RAF airmen who bombed Nazi Germany war criminals. Dr Kehinde Andrews, a professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, said the decision to build tributes like the Bomber Command Memorial desecrated with white paint yesterday was like 'justifying terrorism'. He said: ‘We are talking about a war crime. I think it is a tragedy they died, but we don’t need a statue.’ His extraordinary statements came on ITV's Good Morning Britain today where host Piers Morgan asked him: 'Why do you see everything...

The Air Force has begun a series of major upgrades to its oldest aircraft — the B-52H Stratofortress — to keep the fleet viable until about 2050. The iconic B-52 airframes first came off the production line more than six decades ago. The service currently possesses 76 of the long-range subsonic strategic bombers, split between Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, and operated by the service’s Global Strike Command as well as Air Force Reserve Command.

Two Russian TU-95 bombers nearing US airspace off the coast of Alaska on Friday were intercepted by two F-22 ...

Police in Indonesia say suicide bombers have struck three churches in the city of Surabaya on the island of Java. Officials say at least two people were killed and 13 others injured in a blast Sunday in front of the Santa Maria Catholic Church. There was no immediate word about injuries at other sites. Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city. Debris is seen outside Santa Maria church, where an explosion went off in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, May 13, 2018. Media reports say simultaneous attacks on churches in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya have left casualties.

Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Alaska yesterday and escorted out of the U.S. air defense zone. CNN: The Russian long-range bombers flew into the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends approximately 200 miles off Alaska's western coast. "At approximately 10 a.m. ET, two Alaskan-based NORAD F-22 fighters intercepted and visually identified two Russian TU-95 'Bear' long-range bomber aircraft flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone around the western coast of Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands," NORAD and USNORTHCOM spokesman Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessy said in a statement. The...

A pair of U.S. Air Force stealth fighter jets intercepted two Russian nuclear-capable bombers Friday morning off the coast of Alaska, a spokesman for NORAD (North American Aeorospace Defense Command) told Fox News. The approach by the two Tupolev Tu-95 Russian "Bear" aircraft marked the first time in just over a year that Russian bombers had flown that close to U.S. territory. The Russian bombers came within 55 miles of Alaska's west coast, north of the Aleutian Islands, but remained in international airspace, the spokesman, Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessy said.

Russia has started test flying the first “new” Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack supersonic strategic bomber. However, this first airframe will primarily be used as a flight sciences test aircraft — it is not a fully equipped mission capable strategic bomber. Moreover, this particular airframe was likely assembled from parts that were originally built during the Soviet-era.

On Nov. 11, 1956, the first B-58 Hustler took flight. It would never see combat. An exotic, beautiful bomber designed for high-speed nuclear strike missions, a changes in Soviet tactics and a development method which dramatically hiked costs conspired to doom the Hustler — intended as a replacement for the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet.

Russia Is Improving the Biggest Bomber Ever New mission systems and engines Russia Is Improving the Biggest Bomber Ever WIB AIR November 14, 2017 Dave Majumdar Russia75 Tu-1603 Early next year in February, the first of Russia’s new production Tupolev Tu-160M2 Blackjack supersonic strategic bombers will take to the air. The new bomber is essentially a prototype of a next generation variant of the venerable Blackjack, the first generation of which was built during the 1980s in the last days of the Soviet Union.