‘Bolars’, which had a signi cant role in the
air war against so-called Islamic State (IS)
from April until October. Also operating
from the Jordanian base, the 48th FW
F-15Es played a vital part in support of
the ground operations in Raqqa and
Mosul, which led to the liberation of
both cities. The 492nd FS completed
more than 2,000 missions and delivered
nearly 4,500 precision-guided munitions
during its stint as a component of the
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW). In
addition, on June 8 and 20 the F-15Es
shot down two Iranian-made Shahed-129
unmanned aerial vehicles of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps Air and Space
Force near Al Tanf.
Dominating the Dubai static park was
E-3B serial 78-0578 from the 960th AACS
at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, one of four E-3Bs
forward-deployed at Al Udeid. Col Thomas
J. Goulter from the E-3 detachment
was responsible for co-ordinating the
USAF presence at the show, along with
the US Marine Corps and Navy assets.
‘The helicopters and tilt-rotor we have
here are from the USS America, which isdocked at Jebel Ali port,’ he told Combat
Aircraft. ‘Anything like this does not go o
easily. My sta from AFCENT [Air Force
Central Command] started to plan this
about a year out. The UAE [United Arab
Emirates] said which aircraft they would
like to be here and we told them what
we had available at the time.’ The pace of
operations in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq
clearly meant that some may not have
been available to be diverted away from
the action.
The ying demonstration, utilizing
a loaned 480th FS F-16CM from
Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, involved
the East Coast F-16 demo team, led by
pilot Maj John ‘Rain’ Waters from Shaw
AFB, South Carolina.Marine muscle
One of four KC-130Js from VMGR-352 on
deployment to Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait
came to the show in between supporting
VMM-161’s MV-22Bs and AV-8B Harrier
IIs of VMA-214 that are in theater. The
CH-53E and MV-22B also came from the
USS America, which kicked-o a six-monthhave to date carried out 250 air tasking
orders (ATOs), released 263 weapons and
logged 534 sorties in support of ‘Inherent
Resolve’ (OIR) during their initial and
subsequent deployments to the theater.
One of the F-22As at the show, together
with a second example from the
‘Boneheads’, most likely took part in the
anti-narcotics Operation ‘Jagged Knife’ the
weekend after the show on November 19.
This destroyed key revenue streams for the
Taliban in Afghanistan by taking out eight
opium production facilities in Helmand
province, alongside Afghan Air Force
A-29 Super Tucanos. ‘Jagged Knife’ saw
the Raptors escorting B-52Hs operating
out of Al Udeid, Qatar, as well as dropping
four GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions
(JDAMs) on at least three targets.
The brace of Strike Eagles at the event
hailed from the 336th FS ‘Rocketeers’,
deployed from Seymour Johnson AFB,
North Carolina. The squadron has 18 of
its jets at As Shaheed Muwa aq al Salti
(Al Azraq) air base in Jordan. Prior to their
arrival, the F-15E contingent for OIR was
provided by RAF Lakenheath’s 492nd FSLeft: An F-22A of
the 95th FS takes
on fuel from a
KC-10A Extender
from the 908th
Expeditionary
Air Refueling
Squadron during
the November
19 mission to
Afghanistan.
USAF/TSgt
Gregory Brook
Below: F-15E
Strike Eagles
assigned to
the 336th
Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron
prepare for a
night mission
in support
of Operation
‘Inherent Resolve’
in November 2017.
USAF/SrA Joshua
Kleinholzhttp://www.combataircraft.net // February 2018 67
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