As part of NATO’s Bomber Task Force Europe 2025 operations, U.S. Air Force (USAF) B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers arrived on August 9 at Ørland Air Base in Norway. This deployment—the fifth in the fifth year of the BTF—aims to strengthen interoperability among Atlantic Alliance members, refine combat tactics in high-intensity environments, and reaffirm the U.S.’s forward presence in the North Atlantic.
The aircraft, assigned to the 345th Bomb Squadron and deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, completed a flight of more than 4,800 miles to their destination in Ørland, one of the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s main bases and home to F-35A stealth fighters.
In the coming weeks, U.S. crews will conduct training missions led by allied nations, focused on “finding, fixing, tracking, and targeting” real-time objectives while confronting air and ground threats designed to limit their freedom of maneuver.
The arrival of the U.S. Air Force’s B-1B supersonic bombers in Ørland will also include combined operations with fighters and air defense assets, aimed at enhancing response capability in contingency scenarios in the Arctic and the Norwegian Sea. In parallel, these missions reinforce NATO’s deterrence strategy against emerging threats in a region critical for its proximity to the Arctic and northern Russia.
This is not the first time these bombers have operated from Norway: in March 2021, the first such deployment took place to gain experience in Arctic conditions, and in 2023 they participated in the Arctic Challenge exercise alongside Scandinavian countries. These precedents, along with their recent involvement in operations in Asia and the Pacific, highlight the B-1B Lancer’s high operational tempo and its role as a global reach strategic platform.
The bombers’ arrival follows their participation in Red Flag 25-3, a training exercise in which Lancer crews carried out daily sorties from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, to the Nevada Test and Training Range to conduct simulated strike missions in contested airspace.
Lastly, there is no official information on how many B-1s traveled to Norway, though Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) imagery shows at least three en route. The length of their stay has also not been disclosed, but such deployments typically last a month or more. With its ability to deliver precision-guided munitions and its supersonic speed, the B-1B Lancer remains a central platform for U.S. power projection, capable of operating in highly contested environments and in close integration with allies in Europe and beyond.
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