at the end of June. F-15Cs tend to be
carefully employed by the USAF as a
show of defense rather than aggression.
This is achieved because of their sole
air superiority role and lack of o ensive
strike capabilities.
The USAF also has as many as 30 F-15E
Strike Eagles allocated to CENTCOM. The
4th FW’s 336th EFS ‘Rocketeers’ arrived
at Al Dhafra on June 14 with a dozen jets
to supplement the 18 335th EFS ‘Chiefs’
examples that are also deployed from
Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
The ‘Rocketeers’ also sent eight jets to
Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, in July
for exercise ‘Rapid Forge’.
The Strike Eagles in CENTCOM appear
to be mainly engaged in OIR missions
currently, but crucially they are able to
o er a range of e ects, both air-to-air
and air-to-ground.The most recent CENTCOM-released
air strike summary indicates a dramatic
slowing of pace in the counter-IS
campaign. Between April 21 and
May 4, 2019, the OIR joint task force
conducted just 10 strikes consisting of
40 engagements against IS targets in
Iraq — there were no strikes conducted
in Syria. Targets in Iraq included four
IS tactical units, three tunnels, two
buildings, two weapons caches, two
supply routes, and one cargo container.
A squadron of F-22 Raptors from the
1st Fighter Wing and its Air National
Guard associate unit the 192nd FW
at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia,
arrived at Al Udeid, Qatar, on June 27,
marking the rst deployment for the
type at this base. The Raptors joined
four B-52Hs from the 2nd Bomb Wing at
Barksdale AFB that are also at Al Udeid.The arrival of the Raptors means that
the USAF has both of its fth-generation
stealth ghters on hand in the Middle
East if required. The F-35As from Hill AFB
have been at Al Dhafra since April on the
USAF’s combat debut for the type. Both
types are likely to provide the leading
edge of any air-power-led action against
Iran, with both the F-35 and the F-22
able to penetrate Iran’s ground-based air
defense (GBAD) network, fend o any air
threats and strike targets accurately.
The F-15Cs are mostly geared towards
defending host nation interests around
the GCC as well as high-value assets
such as tankers, and they could be
called upon to intercept any marauding
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force ghters
that could threaten vessels or aircraft
that are operating in the North Arabian
Gulf (NAG).
Speaking to Combat Aircraft on July
17, USAF Chief of Sta Gen David
Goldfein commented on tensions with
Iran. ‘We y exactly where we need
to y and when we need to y there,
in international airspace. What’s most
troubling about the shoot-down of an
aircraft in international airspace is that
this impacts all of us who operate in
those spaces. We have rules of behavior
that we have all adhered to over time,
which is what professional militaries
do. I can not by any stretch characterize
Iranian activity as professional in terms
of how they operated in shooting down
an aircraft that was operating clearly in
international airspace — that ought to
be troubling for all of us.’Above: An
F/A-18E Super
Hornet of VFA-86
‘Sidewinders’
lands aboard USS
Abraham Lincoln
(CVN 72). It carries
live GBU-54
Laser Joint Direct
Attack Munitions,
plus live AIM-9X
and AIM-120s.
US Navy
Below: B-52H
Stratofortress
bombers
from the 20th
Expeditionary
Bomb Squadron
are back in
CENTCOM,
operating from
Al Udeid, Qatar.
USAF/SSgt
Ashley GardnerCOMBAT REPORT // IRANIAN TENSIONS
28 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
24-28 US Gulf Air C.indd 28 18/07/2019 15:48