started tests of another F-15E stores configuration - with five JASSM
missiles (usually 1 to 2 are carried, and none are placed on hardpoints
under the CFTs). This weapons load would also be useful in a "tac-fer-
ry" setting. It would also make it possible to change the composition
of the potential strike package (bomber plus escort), eliminating the
B-1Bs or B-52Hs. Instead, F-15Es would take over the role of the bomb-
ers, carrying five JASSMs each, being capable of conducting a strike
and defending themselves.
Deployment of 24 USAFE aircraft to Poland, including 20 F-15s, had
numerous observers questioning the nature of that move - asking
whether it shall be viewed as a show of force, in response to Russian
military buildup beyond the Ukrainian border. According to informa-
tion released by the Polish MoD, the press department of the General
Command of the Polish Armed Forces, and by the spokesperson for
the Pentagon, the exercise had been planned, and they had no con-
nection to the tensions escalating between Russia and Ukraine. For
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