B-52 Bomber Spotted Flying Low Just Off Somali Coast

B-52H bomber belonging to the U.S. Air Force has been photographed flying low near the Somali island of Koyama. According to a local photographer, the bomber, which appeared at around 2:30 PM local time caused some confusion and concern among the locals. So, why would a B-52 be flying low over that area and where did it come from?  You can see the images taken by photographer Abdishukri Haybe, below. He was kind enough to allow us to publish them: We geolocated the images based on what is in the foreground and they do appear to be taken near a small village on the west side of Koyama island, which is just a mile from the Somali mainland. This would have put the B-52 well within Somali airspace.  B-52Hs are currently forward-deployed to Diego Garcia, America's outpost in the Indian Ocean. As we reported at the time, the Pentagon planned to send six of the bombers there as a contingency for a potential conflict with Iran. They have slowly trickled in over the days and weeks that followed the original deployment announcement and they have remained there since.  The images below were taken yesterday, Feb. 14, 2020, showing the bombers on the sprawling apron at Diego Garcia. Note that six were seen in one image and four in the other. This is common as some of the bombers will execute long-range sorties in the region or even transit to and from the U.S. to augment or replace ones that are already on the island.  The regional sorties can be for training or operational needs. Somalia remains a highly complex country that continues to experience deep instability. Piracy, while less of a concern than it was a decade ago, continues to be an issue. The B-52H carries a Sniper electro-optical and infrared pod that is primarily used for targeting, but it also can and is also used for what is called non-traditional information, surveillance, and reconnaissance (NTISR) gathering.