Why The US Air Force Just Sent A Third Of Its B-1B Fleet To 1 British Airbase

At the peak of Operation Epic Fury (around late March 2026), the US Air Force deployed around 15 B-1B Lancers and around six B-52H Stratofortresses at the UK’s RAF Fairford airbase. The initial wave of B-1Bs arrived on or after March 6, with B-52s arriving soon after. As of the time of writing (late July), a large share of the Air Force’s operational Rockwell B-1 Lancer fleet remains deployed at RAF Fairford.