US readies warships, jets, tankers for potential weekslong Iran war
Pentagon assembles its largest Middle East strike force since 2003, adding F-35s, F-22s, tankers, electronic-warfare and command planes plus a second carrier.
WASHINGTON – The United States has assembled its largest military strike force in the Middle East since the lead-up to its invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Additional stealth-capable fighter aircraft are deploying to the region to join a naval fleet that will soon include two US aircraft carrier strike groups.
The massive flow of combat-sustaining military assets eastward from the United States and from Europe included F-22, F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, several E-3B Sentry airborne early-warning and E-11 command-and-control aircraft over the past few days, according to open-source flight tracking sites.
While the Pentagon has not publicly confirmed the destinations of specific assets, publicly available satellite imagery accessed on Thursday appeared to show 18 US Air Force F-35A Lighting II and at least two E-18 Growler electronic warfare planes assembled in close proximity at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. At the same time, the US appeared to be dispersing some aircraft from its main hub in the region, Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
