Latest news with #USEuropeanCommand
Time of India
5 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Turkey sandwich, sunflower seeds: Strict diet B-2 bomber pilots undergo before missions
The success of B-2 bombers hinges on the crew as two pilots replace the bigger crew that older bombers required. B-2 bomber pilots go through rigorous preparation for weeks ahead of embarking on a mission and a majority of this training includes sleep studies, retired Lt. Gen. Steve Basham told Reuters. Bhasham flew the B-2 for nine years and retired in 2024 as deputy commander of the US European Command. Basham explained that pilots are trained to be cognizant of foods which speed up their digestion, which slow it, which keep them awake, which make them fall asleep. Because there is a single chemical toilet in the aircraft and they need to take rest as well, during the 36-hour flight. For Basham, his go-to meal during the training was turkey sandwiches on wheat bread with no cheese, as bland is what they are eyeing here. B-2 bombers can fly 6,000 nautical miles without refueling but most missions require multiple mid-air refuelings and the process is cumbersome. Pilots can't see refueling, they rely on visual cues The Reuters report described the refueling process as 'blind' as pilots can't see the boom extending from a tanker full of gas attaching to the B-2 16 feet behind their heads. They have to rely on visual cues from the tanker's lights and memorized reference points. On moonless flights, it's an inherently dangerous task, Basham said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo The process is more tiring when fatigue kicks in. "Adrenaline kept you going before you went into country," Basham said. "The adrenaline goes away. You try to get a little bit of rest and you still got that one last refueling." B-2 is equipped with a refrigerator, a microwave and a small area behind the seats where pilots can lie down in a cot. Sunflower seeds are another food the pilots rely on to stay awake between meals. B-2's shape makes it stealthy but its success largely depends on human performance, as it carries only two persons instead of larger teams that older bombers like the B-1B and B-52 required.
Spectator
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Will Trump respond to Iran damaging the US embassy?
The US embassy in Tel Aviv has been damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile attack which landed close by, raising the prospect of President Trump retaliating against Tehran. The overnight incident, during a barrage of Iranian missiles fired at Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa, came after Trump warned the US would attack Iran with its 'full force' if any American assets were targeted. The prospect of a military response to the overnight damage to the American embassy building is possible but unlikely It seemed the building was not directly targeted but the blast from the missiles caused minor damage at the branch office building. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, confirmed the damage overnight but said no one had been hurt. 'Some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits near the embassy branch in Tel Aviv but no injuries to US personnel,' he said in a post on X. He said the embassy in Jerusalem and the offices in Tel Aviv would remain closed. In his warning to Tehran, Trump had said: 'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.' Since Israel's attacks on Iran's nuclear plants and air defence systems, codenamed Operation Rising Lion, began on 13 June, Trump has made it clear that the US is not involved, although a report by Reuters claimed that the American president had vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 'Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership,' a senior US official told Reuters. Washington's hesitation to participate in the latest round of Israeli raids on Iran suggests that minor, indirect damage to the embassy building in Tel Aviv will not provoke Trump into retaliating against Tehran. Yet it could persuade the US president to mount a full-scale defence of Israel, using warships in the Red Sea and Mediterranean and Patriot missile batteries located in the Middle East to help Israel shoot down the ballistic missiles and drones targeting Israeli cities. Israel's Iron Dome and Arrow 2 and 3 anti-missile systems have successfully shot down a large percentage of Iran's missiles and drones. However, dozens have breached the missile shield, leading to multiple casualties. When the tit-for-tat missile strikes erupted between Israel and Iran in April, the US, Britain, France and Jordan stepped in to support Israel with anti-missile defences. This time, it has not been made clear how much support has been provided. US European Command moved two destroyers with anti-missile systems to the Eastern Mediterranean last week which may already have played a role in intercepting Iranian missiles. The UK also sent additional fighter jets and air refuelling tankers to the Middle East. Trump's response to the damage caused to the US embassy building in Tel Aviv is likely to be measured by the desire not to escalate an already dangerous confrontation between Israel and Iran. During his first term in office in June 2019, he approved plans to strike Iran after the Iranians shot down a long-range US Air Force Global Hawk surveillance drone. Bombers were on their way to hit selected targets when the president changed his mind and the raid was called off. Later, Trump explained that no Americans had been hurt and retaliatory strikes which could have led to Iranian deaths, were, therefore, disproportionate. Now, in his second term, and following his warning to Iran, the prospect of a military response to the overnight damage to the American embassy is possible but unlikely. The calm statement from Ambassador Mike Huckabee suggests the response will be more cautious.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US considers pulling troops out of Europe
The US is preparing to enter discussions about withdrawing troops from Europe, according to its ambassador to Nato. Matthew Whitaker said proposals to remove tens of thousands of troops from the continent would be discussed 'later in the year'. Donald Trump has repeatedly admonished Nato countries for failing to meet the defence spending goal of at least 2 per cent of GDP, arguing that the disparity places an unfair burden on the United States. Asked to comment on a report that Mr Trump is considering withdrawing troops from Europe, Mr Whitaker said 'nothing has been determined' but said that allies were ready to have the discussion. 'But as soon as we do, we are going to have these conversations in the structure of Nato,' said Mr Whitaker. 'It will be certainly after the summit, sometime later in the year, we are going to start those conversations... All our allies are ready to do it,' he added, referring to the Nato summit in The Hague in June. In March, The Telegraph revealed that the US president was weighing up withdrawing some 35,000 active personnel out of Germany. Around 160,000 active-duty personnel are stationed outside of the United States, a vast quantity of whom are in the country. Mr Trump was said to be considering repositioning some troops in Europe to be closer to the Nato countries which have upped their defence spending to meet targets. The withdrawal is thought to be part of plans by the administration to redraw Nato engagement in a way that favours member countries with higher defence spending. European fears about the US commitment to Nato have been growing for some time. Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, told Nato allies in February that 'stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe'. During his first term, Mr Trump ordered the withdrawal of almost 12,000 troops from Germany, where the US had several major military facilities including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for US European Command. But the move was halted by Joe Biden amid widespread criticism from Congress. Earlier this year, The Atlantic reported in March that Mr Hegseth and JD Vance, the vice-president, had complained about European allies in a chat group. Mr Hegseth expressed his 'loathing of European free-loading', according to the Atlantic. Such comments have fuelled anxiety about the commitment to Nato, along with Trump's threats not to protect members that spend too little on defence, and his reluctance to keep supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon considers shifting Greenland to US Northern Command, sparking concerns over Trump's ambitions for the territory
Trump administration officials are weighing a change that would shift responsibility for US security interests in Greenland to the military command that oversees America's homeland defense, underscoring the president's focus on the strategically important territory that he has repeatedly said he wants to acquire, three sources familiar with the deliberations told CNN. The change under consideration would move Greenland out of US European Command's area of responsibility and into US Northern Command, the sources said. On its face, the idea of putting Greenland under NORTHCOM authority makes some logical sense given it is part of the North American continent, though politically and culturally, it is associated with Europe and is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. Some of the discussions pre-date Trump's return to office this year, the sources said. US Northern Command declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as Danish and Greenlandic officials for comment. Still, several US officials expressed wariness about the move because of Trump's repeated insistence that the US 'needs' Greenland and his refusal to rule out military action to obtain it. In an interview with NBC that aired last weekend, Trump renewed that threat. 'I don't rule it out,' he said. 'I don't say I'm going to do it, but I don't rule out anything.' 'We need Greenland very badly,' Trump said. 'Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we'll take care of, and we'll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.' US Northern Command is chiefly responsible for protecting US territory and currently oversees missions like the southern border task force. Trump's rhetoric has also caused major friction with Denmark and with Greenland itself. Putting Greenland under US Northern Command would at least symbolically split Greenland from Denmark, which would still be overseen by US European Command. Danish officials are concerned about the message that could send suggesting that Greenland is not a part of Denmark, one of the sources familiar with the deliberations said. Proponents of the move have pointed out that despite there being a US military base there and Greenland being seen as a vital outpost in competition with Russia and China for access to the Arctic — a major bipartisan national security priority — it sometimes gets overlooked by US European Command because of its distance from the command center in central Europe, one US official said. For US NORTHCOM, though, Greenland is an important vantage point for any potential enemy craft coming from that direction towards the United States. The unclassified version of the US intelligence community's annual threat assessment mentioned Greenland four times, within the context of adversaries like China and Russia seeking to expand their influence there. The discussions about moving Greenland into NORTHCOM come amid another high-profile spat between American and Danish officials over Greenland. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said this week that he plans to 'call in' the US acting ambassador to Denmark for talks after a Wall Street Journal report said Washington had ordered US intelligence agencies to increase spying on Greenland. They were directed to learn more about Greenland's independence movement and attitudes towards American resource extraction, the Journal reported. 'I have read the article in the Wall Street Journal, and it worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends,' Rasmussen told reporters in Warsaw on Wednesday, during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers. 'We are going to call in the US acting ambassador for a discussion at the foreign ministry to see if we can confirm this information, which is somewhat disturbing,' Rasmussen added.
Saudi Gazette
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Senator criticizes Pentagon officials on alleged US troop drawdown in Europe
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has criticized Pentagon "mid-level" leadership for what he said was a misguided plan to reduce the number of US troops based in Europe. "There are some who believe now is the time to reduce drastically our military footprint in Europe," Senator Roger Wicker said at a hearing with US European Command and US Africa Command military leadership. "I'm troubled at those deeply misguided and dangerous views held by some mid-level bureaucrats within the Defense Department." It was not immediately clear what "mid-level bureaucrats" Wicker was talking about but he warned that "they've been working to pursue a US retreat from Europe and they've often been doing so without coordinating with the secretary of defense." However, neither the Defense Department nor the Pentagon has made any proposal to cut force levels there public. His criticism of any potential reduction in US support to NATO and Ukraine were a running theme throughout the hearing. Under questioning from senators, Army General Christopher Cavoli, commander of US European Command and the supreme allied commander Europe, said a potential plan by the Trump administration to relinquish the allied commander position to another nation could create problems for control over the US nuclear weapons and the tens of thousands of American troops deployed across the continent. A US general has long held the post of allied commander, a position that oversees all NATO military plans and decisions. And the US is often the largest troop contributor to NATO operations. "I think that would bring some challenges in terms of nuclear command and control. It would put us in a position where, in an Article Five situation, we could have for the first time since the First World War large numbers of American troops under non-US command," Cavoli said, referring to NATO's Article Five collective defense pledge in which an attack against one allied nation is considered an attack on all. "I think those are things that would have to be considered carefully," Cavoli said, calling any plan to give up the leadership role "problematic." He also noted that NATO allies are investing in their militaries "at a rate we haven't seen since the end of the Cold War. A 40% increase in spending since February of 2022." He said the presence of US troops in Europe has been essential to NATO's transformation and modernization efforts and is also critical to America's national defense. While there has been no official announcement about any US military drawdown in Europe, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have both made it clear they want NATO to do more to defend its own region and that the US is turning to focus more on China and America's southern border. The US has also dropped its leadership role in the broad effort to coordinate military support for Ukraine and given the helm to the British. Both steps have worried allies, who fear the US is stepping away from its long-held commitment to Europe and NATO. The number of US troops stationed in Europe increased by about 20,000 under Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They helped with training, logistics of weapons shipments and reassured allies on NATO's eastern flank that the United States would defend them. There have been roughly 100,000 troops there since, including the Navy's 6th Fleet, as well as nuclear warheads. US firepower ensures that NATO's ability to deter Russia is credible. NATO allies have expressed concern about any reduction of American troops or support in the region. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Brussels this week seeking to reassure NATO allies about the US commitment to the alliance under Trump. That military reassurance had been almost put into question by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who used his first visit to NATO and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in February to tell allies that the US would be reassessing troop levels with an eye towards a greater focus on China. Hegseth told allies he was there "to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe." Trump has tried to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but so far that effort has faltered. — Euronews
