United States B-52 flies over Malta in night-time training mission

A United States Air Force B-52 bomber flew over Malta earlier in the day as part of a night-time mission over Europe.

The overpass happened earlier on Monday 14 January.

The B-52, callsign CHIEF11, was part of a duo that took off RAF Fairford in the UK, for a night-time mission over Europe.

The aircraft arrived in the UK earlier this week.

B-52 Stratofortress aircraft, support equipment, and personnel from the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, arrived at RAF Fairford to execute a long-planned Bomber Task Force mission.

An audio clip posted on Twitter captures the contact between the B-52 CHIEF11 passing over Malta airspace and into the Eastern Mediterranean.

CHIEF12 diverted earlier on into the flight to stop in Spain.

Bomber Task Force missions are regularly scheduled U.S. European Command and U.S. Strategic Command joint mission series.

According to a statement from General Jeff Harrigian, USAFE-AFAFRICA commander, the flights are part of bomber rotations through Europe.

“En route to RAF Fairford, U.S. Bomber Aircraft integrated with British Typhoon aircraft and Portuguese F-16s currently assigned to NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing mission.

“Bomber aircraft also integrated with British Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) to conduct bilateral Close Air Support training.  The mission focused on enhancing readiness and interoperability for the controllers responsible for coordinating airstrikes to support ground forces.

“Regularly integrating with our allies improves our cooperation and operational capacity, capability and interoperability. Occurring since 2018, bomber rotations through Europe maintain our readiness to execute a wide variety of missions across two continents, sustaining peace through deterrence.”

Harrigian said the flights were part of training to strengthen collective airpower.