B-52 Bombers nicknamed after the Game of Thrones character who sacrificed himself that others may live, made a run Straight At Crimea During Long Range Mission.
Russia says that it sent Su-27 Flankers to intercept multiple U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses flying over both the Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions today. In one of the encounters, one of the bombers was flying directly toward the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin occupies, in what could have been a mock strike run. Another one of the B-52s subsequently made an emergency landing at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom following an unrelated in-flight emergency.
The Russian Ministry of Defense and the country's National Defense Management Center both released statements about the intercepts on June 17, 2019. The same day, U.S. Air Force's in Europe released its own statement confirming that B-52s from the 5th Bomber Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota had flown missions in support of three different exercises, but did not name them. The annual NATO-led Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) exercise is presently ongoing in and around the Baltic Sea, while the U.S. Army and Romanian Land Forces are hosting the latest iteration of Saber Guardian in the Black Sea region, both of which have included B-52s in the past. Online flight tracking software showed that at least three bombers had deployed from the United States and then two continued back to base after conducting the marathon missions.
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