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NATO Baltic Sea Anti‑Submarine Training Runs In Parallel With U.S. B‑52H Bomber Patrols.
A U.S. Air Force B-52H from Morón Air Base joined a series of strategic flights over Northern Europe on November 12, coinciding with NATO’s Playbook Merlin 25 exercise in the Baltic Sea. The synchronized operations highlight a multi-domain deterrence posture across the Alliance’s northern and eastern frontiers.
On 12 November 2025, a U.S. Air Force B-52H operating from Morón Air Base in Spain joined a high-tempo sequence of missions over Northern Europe at the same time NATO Allies gathered in the Baltic Sea for Playbook Merlin 25, an anti-submarine warfare exercise led by Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM). The parallel air and maritime activity underscores a coordinated, multi-domain posture as the Alliance trains to protect critical sea lanes and deter coercion in the High North and along NATO’s eastern flank, as reported by the Public Affairs Office at MARCOM.
A U.S. B-52H bomber joined NATO forces in the Baltic Sea, enhancing joint anti-submarine and regional defense training (Picture Source: NATO / U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. bomber presence in Europe is part of Bomber Task Force Europe 26-1. According to U.S. Air Forces in Europe, B-52 aircraft from the 2nd Bomb Wing arrived at Morón on 8 November to conduct a series of theater missions alongside Allied air forces, sharpening tactics in contested airspace and demonstrating the ability to surge long-range strike assets quickly into the European theater. According to open-source flight tracking data from Flightradar24, U.S. B-52 bombers have recently been operating over the Baltic Sea and along Russia’s northwestern borders, underscoring the strategic reach of these missions. The B-52’s range, payload, and ability to employ standoff weapons make it a flexible instrument for assurance flights, conventional strike training, and integration with Allied fighters and command-and-control aircraft.
At sea, Playbook Merlin 25 runs in the Baltic from 10–14 November under MARCOM direction and hosted by Sweden. MARCOM reports that submarines from Germany and Sweden, U.S. maritime patrol aircraft, and surface ships and helicopters from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden are exercising cutting-edge ASW tactics tailored to the Baltic’s shallow waters and busy shipping routes. Senior NATO maritime leaders emphasized how regional expertise and combined training increase readiness, interoperability and undersea defense across the Alliance.
The simultaneity of strategic bomber sorties over the Baltic region and concentrated ASW maneuver at sea is not coincidental; it is how NATO now practices layered deterrence. In the air, the B-52 integrates with Allied fighters and airborne early warning to rehearse long-range precision strike profiles and responsiveness. At sea and below it, Allied submarines, surface combatants, helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft build the kill-chain against quiet diesel-electric boats in a constrained, acoustically complex battlespace. Together, these actions demonstrate the Allied capacity to surveil, cue and, if necessary, strike across domains and distances, complicating any adversary’s planning calculus.
Beyond maneuvers, the hardware involved points to the strategic depth behind the headlines. The B-52, first fielded in the 1950s and repeatedly modernized, remains a benchmark for long-range strike versatility, able to carry a wide mix of conventional precision munitions while operating within a broader package of tankers and ISR platforms. On the maritime side, the Baltic participants combine air-independent-propulsion submarines optimized for littorals with P-8-class maritime patrol aircraft, variable-depth sonars and dipping-sonar helicopters, capabilities geared to protect sea lines of communication and allied ports. MARCOM situates Merlin alongside flagship Atlantic and Mediterranean ASW drills such as Dynamic Mongoose and Dynamic Manta, illustrating a cradle-to-cradle training architecture from the High North to the Med.
There is also a historical through-line in how platforms endure when doctrine evolves. Just as the B-52 has shifted from high-altitude nuclear bomber to a standoff, networked conventional strike node, Baltic ASW has moved from Cold War blue-water timelines to persistent, high-tempo littoral defense with a premium on data fusion and rapid cueing. These evolutions reflect the same strategic lesson: relevant effects flow from modernized sensors, resilient command-and-control and rehearsed multinational procedures more than from any single platform alone.
Geopolitically, the message is calibrated. Merlin 25 trains Allies to secure infrastructure and shipping in a region that carries outsized weight for European prosperity and defense, while the bomber presence signals that escalation risks are best managed through credible readiness rather than rhetorical brinkmanship. The coupling of airpower and undersea warfare also addresses vulnerabilities exposed by recent attacks and incidents on seabed energy and data links, a concern highlighted by European security analyses and echoed in MARCOM communications.
As 12 November unfolds, the picture is of an Alliance practicing what it will have to do under pressure: keep the Baltic Sea open and monitored, keep the airspace covered by layered sensors and fighters, and keep long-range strike options credible without being provocative. The B-52’s visible patrols from Morón and the concentrated ASW workups of Merlin 25 are different faces of the same posture, deterrence that is integrated, rehearsed and ready above and below the waves.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.