Aussie spy plane leads US B-2 stealth nuke bombers over Pacific in rare images

Stunning images show Australia’s E-7A Wedgetail in formation with rarely-seen stealth fighters, F/A 18 Hornets, and warships over the Pacific in a thinly-veiled warning to China.

The US Air Force released a series of stunning images showing its B-2 nuclear bomber in formation with Australia’s high-tech spy plane over the pacific as it escalates its intimidation campaign with China.

It comes after the US fired a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from California to the western Pacific Ocean amid rising tensions over Taiwan.

The two B-2 Spirit strike planes were escorted by four F/A-18 Hornet fighters and the E-7A Wedgetail from Australia, known as the “eye in the sky”.

A warship followed on the surface of the ocean below in the extremely rare pictures released by the US Pacific Air Forces in Hawaii.

“Bilateral training missions alongside @AusAirForce & @DefenceAustAllies enhance joint and multilateral readiness, allowing @INDOPACOM to respond to any potential crisis in support of a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific,” they said in a tweet.

The call for a “free and open pacific” is a thinly-veiled response to China’s sweeping claims of large swathes of international waters as its sovereign territory.

China launched an effective blockade of Taiwan with military drills surrounding the island in response to visits to the nation by US diplomats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The E-7A Wedgetail used in the operation is the Royal Australian Air Force’s early warning and control aircraft. Based on a Boeing 737, it is equipped with a radar with an effective range beyond 400 kilometres.

The model will begin replacing the US’s retiring E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System planes this decade, and the RAAF has been training their American counterparts in operating the aircraft.

The RAAF has operated a Wedgetail at the training exercises with the US Air Force in Nevada and Florida this year, and has volunteered to train American pilots so they can be airborne as soon as they receive the spy planes in their arsenal.

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The Chinese Communist Party seethed to “prepare for war” as another US delegation visited this week, at the same time as the US launched its 1970s-era ICBM, the Minuteman III, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

It travelled 6,760 kilometres to splash down near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, more than half the distance between the US west coast and Beijing.

The missile carried a test re-entry vehicle, which in a strategic conflict could be armed with a nuclear warhead.

Colonel Chris Cruise, the 576th Flight Test Squadron Commander, said the launch verified the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, while providing data to ensure an effective nuclear deterrent.

Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile as it launches during a developmental test. Picture: AFP

Tourists look on as a Chinese military helicopter flies past Pingtan island, one of mainland China's closest point from Taiwan. Picture: AFP

“Make no mistake - our nuclear triad is the cornerstone of the national security of our country and of our allies around the globe,” he said, referencing the US’s three-pronged nuclear force of heavy bombers, submarines and ICBMs.

The air-based arm of that triad extends from Australia after the US stationed four stealth bombers to the RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland.

The 393rd Bomb Squadron stationed in Australia is also highly symbolic, as it’s the unit that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II -- the only deployment of nuclear weapons in combat.