B-2 stealth bombers are learning new tricks in Europe, but it's not only about sending a message to Russia

Using "strategic bombers in Iceland helps exercise Keflavik Air Base as a forward location for the B-2, ensuring that it is engaged, postured and ready with credible force," US Air Forces Europe said in a caption on one of the accompanying photos.

Despite that phrasing, "Iceland is not considered a forward operating location similar to RAF Fairford," US Air Forces Europe said in an emailed statement.

"Training outside the US enables aircrew and airmen to become familiar with other theaters and airspace and enhances enduring skills and relationships necessary to confront a broad range of global challenges in support of the National Defense Strategy," the statement said.

Russian forces are increasingly active in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, the Arctic, the Norwegian Sea, and in the GIUK Gap, which refers to the waters between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK — "so in and around Iceland with their own kind of high-end capabilities including nuclear subs and advanced fighters," Skaluba said.

"So I think that this is a signal that the US, the UK, [and] NATO, are watching Russia closely, in clearly a little bit of, 'Hey, we can match you with high-end capabilities in this geography,'" Skaluba said.

"There's a lot of Chinese investments," Skaluba said. "There's a big Chinese embassy in Reykjavik. I think that it's in the first instance about the Russians, but there's clearly some broader signaling going on, and I don't think it's a mistake that there's a big Chinese presence in Reykjavik and that we landed the bombers there."

Source: The Aviationist

Russia's Baltic exclave, Kaliningrad, bristles with anti-access/area-denial, or A2/AD, weaponry, and Moscow has added such A2/AD systems to Crimea since its 2014 seizure.

Russian "A2/AD capability [runs] from the high north through Kaliningrad, down to Crimea and all the way down into [Russia's] base at Tartus in Syria," Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, told Business Insider in late 2018, creating what he called "an arc of A2/AD."

"This is kind of a reminder that the UK is the US partner of choice in security and defense, and frankly the UK is one of the few militaries globally that can...operate with the US at the high-end of the capability spectrum," Skaluba said.

In October 2018, a US aircraft carrier sailed above the Arctic Circle for the first time since the Cold War.

The US, NATO, and Arctic countries are concerned "that Russia is being more aggressive on the security front in the Arctic," and China has sought a larger role in the region. "We're seeing competitor moves into the Arctic in different ways," Skaluba said.

Russia shares an Arctic border with Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and all three countries are close to the Kola Peninsula base that is home to both Russia's Northern Fleet and nuclear weapons storage and test facilities.

Norway is the only one of the three that is a member of NATO, but all the Nordic countries have kept a close eye on Russian missile tests in the region and on its Arctic combat forces.

"So just sending B-52s over the Baltic was something that had to be cleared at a pretty high level," Townsend said, adding that there has always been recognition of not wanting to provoke Russia by sending bombers close to its borders. "For whatever reason, the feeling must've been that was worth doing this time around."

Skaluba also pointed to a recent speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a meeting of the Arctic Council, in which Pompeo said the Arctic had "become an arena of global power and competition."

Within the eight-member Arctic Council, which includes Russia, "there's still a lot of practical cooperation ... but I'm sure it's not a coincidence that Pompeo got everybody a little bit upset ... talking about [how] we need to talk security issues, and then the US sends some big-time military assets up into the region."

"So I think this a bit of a banging of the drum or pounding on the table from the US that we need to think about the Arctic in security terms, and on our own we're going to do that, no matter what anybody else does. But it's a clear signal to the Russians and the Chinese, no doubt."

"As a fulcrum point of the Atlantic Air Bridge, Lajes Field provides the US Department of Defense and allied nations a power-projection platform for credible combat forces across Europe and Africa," US Air Forces Europe said in a release.