“Strategic bomber deployments ensure our ability to project power at a time and place of our choosing and develop strong interoperability with our regional allies and partners,” Robinson said.

During an appearance in Australia on Tuesday, Robinson called on that country and others in the region to assert their rights to fly over the South China Sea.

“We would encourage anybody in the region and around the world to fly and sail in international air space in accordance with international rules and norms” the U.S. general was quoted as saying by Australia’s ABC News online. “We would encourage all nations in the region to do just that, just as the United States is doing.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy sent the aircraft carrier USS John S. Stennis and its strike group into the South China Sea, where Chinese ships operated close by, according to the carrier’s commander.

The Air Force did not say where in the Asia-Pacific region the three B-2s would be operating or how long they would stay in the region.

B-2s have made deployments to Andersen Air Force Base on the Pacific island of Guam in recent years, including last August. And in March 2013, a B-2 flew from Missouri and dropped inert munitions during training exercises over South Korea.

The U.S. Air Force has 20 B-2 bombers in its fleet. The four-engine bombers are flown by a crew of two pilots and can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. They became operational in 1997.