US deploys F-15s to Iceland, Netherlands

The US military has sent a dozen F-15C fighter jets and some 350 airmen to Iceland and the Netherlands, as part of an effort to deter alleged Russian aggression in Europe. According to an announcement by the US Air Force on Friday, US aircraft units from the 131st Fighter Squadron at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and the 194th Fighter Squadron at Fresno Air National Guard Base in California will support NATO air surveillance missions in Iceland and conduct flying training in the Netherlands. Tensions increased between Russia and the West in March 2014 after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum. NATO eventually severed all military cooperation with Moscow over a crisis in Ukraine in April 2014.