Retired marine intelligence officer Hal Kempfer speaks with Austin Westfall.
USAF F-15s Arriving in Middle East as Israel Weighs Response to Iran Attack
The Biden administration ordered more airpower to the region following Israel’s killing of Lebanese Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah. Iran retaliated with a salvo of some 180 ballistic missiles launched at Israel—many aimed at Israeli Air Force bases—that were mostly intercepted, according to Israeli and American officials.
Now, Israel is weighing its response and is likely to conduct some form of airstrike against Iran. The Biden administration is seeking to avert a full-scale regional war.
President Joe Biden has said the U.S. would not support an attack on Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities, but the White House and Pentagon have made clear the U.S. will come to Israel’s defense if attacked.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been scheduled to meet with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at the Pentagon on Oct. 9, but his visit has been deferred until after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks by phone with Biden. . .
The F-15Es from Seymour Johnson currently in the Middle East will stay in the region for now as part of Austin’s decision to delay the redeployment of current assets to enhance U.S. force posture in the region, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
U.S. warplanes were ready to assist Israel by shooting down drones or cruise missiles on Oct. 1, a person familiar with the matter said, but U.S. aircraft were not needed as Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles, which fighters cannot defend against. Two U.S. destroyers fired a dozen interceptors at Iranian ballistic missiles.
In addition to land-based airpower, the U.S. is keeping the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, which carries F-35C Lightning II and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, in the Middle East. The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier deployed last month from Virginia and is expected to head to the Mediterranean Sea. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship that carries AV-8 Harrier attack planes, V-22 Ospreys tiltrotor aircraft, and some 2,200 Marines and Sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Our assessment is that this conflict still remains contained, and we are doing everything from our perspective to ensure that it does remain contained, and that the message of deterrence is still sent far and wide,” Singh said. “That’s why you’ve seen us rotate out different carriers through the region. We still have the ARG/MEU in the Eastern Mediterranean. We have flown in different capabilities. We have a lot of power in the region. And we will use that, if needed, to protect U.S. forces. And should we see another attack from Iran, we will also come to the defense of Israel.”
US Sending More Air Force Fighters to Middle East
The Pentagon previously announced that it is keeping the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, which carries F-35C Lightning II and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, in the Middle East.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Sept. 30 that more aircraft and an “additional few thousand” U.S. personnel were heading to the region.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III “believes that that is the best way for our forces in the region to have the defense that they need, and, of course, if needed to come to the defense of Israel,” Singh said.
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier deployed last week from Virginia and is expected to head to the Mediterranean Sea. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship that carries AV-8 Harrier attack planes, V-22 Ospreys tiltrotor aircraft, and some 2,200 Marines and Sailors from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“This afloat posture is complemented by DOD’s elevated fighter and attack squadron presence, including F-22, F-15E, F-16, and A-10 aircraft, and we will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities in the coming days,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said in a Sept. 29 statement.
F-16s from the 510th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy, and F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., first deployed to the region in April of this year.
The U.S. boosted the number of warplanes in the region following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel by arranging for current units to temporarily extend their deployments so that they overlapped with the incoming forces. The U.S. also conducted such a move in April before Iran attacked Israel.
Singh confirmed the Pentagon was lengthening the deployment of current units while new aircraft came in as part of its move to increase airpower in the region.
“This includes a certain number of units already deployed to the Middle East region that will be extended, and the forces due to rotate into theater to replace them will now instead augment the in-place forces already in the region,” Singh told reporters.
F-15E Strike Eagle Spotted Flying With An Inert B61-12 Nuclear Bomb Out Of Nellis AFB
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