UPI:

Three B-2 stealth bombers were deployed to a remote Indian Ocean base, the Defense Department announced on Wednesday.

The bombers arrived at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, a base jointly operated by the United States and Britain on the archipelago of Diego Garcia, at the equator in the Indian Ocean.

The 29-hour trip from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., began on Tuesday, Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.

Although the statement said that "the U.S. Strategic Command routinely conducts BTF [Bomber Task Force] operations across the globe," the planes' arrival follows the deployment to Diego Garcia, earlier this year, of six B-52H bombers.

China has a series of military exercises planned for next week in the South China Sea -- possibly a simulated attack on Taiwanese islands in the region -- and the arrival of both of China's aircraft carriers, are expected.

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