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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| U.S. Amasses Stealth-Jet Armada Near Iran |
| 2012-04-28 |
| The U.S. Air Force is quietly assembling the world's most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. Stealthy F-22 Raptors on their first front-line deployment have joined a potent mix of active-duty and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, including some fitted with the latest advanced radars. The Raptor-Eagle team has been honing special tactics for clearing the air of Iranian fighters in the event of war. The fighters join a growing naval armada that includes Navy carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers plus patrol boats and minesweepers enhanced with the latest close-in weaponry. It's been years since the Air Force has maintained a significant dogfighting presence in the Middle East. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq Boeing-made F-15Cs flew air patrols from Soddy Arabia, but the Iraqi air force put up no resistance and the Eagle squadrons soon departed. For the next nine years Air Force deployments to the Middle East were handled by ground-attack planes such as A-10s, F-16s and twin-seat F-15E Strike Eagles. The 1980s-vintage F-15Cs, plagued by structural problems, stayed home in the U.S. and Japan. The brand-new F-22s, built by Lockheed Martin, suffered their own mechanical and safety problems. When they ventured from their home bases in Virginia, Alaska and New Mexico, it was only for short training exercises over the Pacific. The F-15Cs and F-22s sat out last year's Libya war. The Air Force fixed the F-15s and partially patched up the F-22s just in time for the escalating stand-off over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. In March the Air Force deployed the Massachusetts Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing, flying 20 standard F-15Cs, to an "undisclosed" air base in Southwest Asia -- probably either Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates or Al Udeid in Qatar. The highly-experienced Massachusetts Guardsmen, who typically have several years more experience than their active-duty counterparts, would be ready "should Iran test the 104th," said wing commander Col. Robert Brooks |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #8 ..or inbounds without proper IFF headed in the direction of friendly forces arrayed just to the west and south of Iran? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-04-28 20:59 |
| #7 y'all will begetter able ...be better able... PIMF!! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-04-28 20:53 |
| #6 Procopius2k: I'd have serious doubts on whether our pilots would fire on Isreal. |
| Posted by: Charles 2012-04-28 20:06 |
| #5 Debkafile weighs in on the subject. Usual grain of salt, but y'all will begetter able to interpret than I. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-04-28 12:41 |
| #4 ..of course we're all assuming that its aimed at Iran and not to obstruct, say, an Israel preemptive strike. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-04-28 10:09 |
| #3 Mike, I like your number one reasoning and massivly significant now you've draw attention to it. |
| Posted by: Kojack 2012-04-28 09:11 |
| #2 Israel has been busy in neighboring Azerbaijan. |
| Posted by: Mike Ramsey 2012-04-28 08:20 |
| #1 ...This is interesting for a couple of reasons: 1: The biggest problem with the -22 is that it was built in tactically useless numbers and the leadership is terrified of losing one for any reason, so a serious, honest-to-God, no-$hit deployment (especially after all the contortions the USAF leadership went through to justify not sending them to Libya) means that somebody at the Echelons Above Reality is not kidding around. 2: The Raptor-Eagle team is probably the most vicious air supremacy weapon anybody's ever come up with. The strengths of each aircraft compliment each other quite nicely, and when you throw in our ability to run flawless operations on a 24/7 basis backed up by the guys and gals in the E-3s, these guys will be capable of pretty much sweeping the sky clear of any Iranian fighters that actually get airborne - especially their surviving F-14s, which are now used more as AWACS. 3: The -22s - being essentially invisible to the Iranians - have an incredible potential to just mess with them. Given (1) above, I think that's one part of their mission. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2012-04-28 07:25 |