US F-22 squadron arrives to help UAE ward off Houthi attacks
France is also lending military support while it remains unclear how proactively US fighter pilots will allowed to engage Houthi targets.
US F-22 fighter jets arrived in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend in a show of military support from Washington following recent missile and drone attacks launched into the Gulf country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
American F-22 Raptor pilots from the 1st Fighter Wing based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, landed at Al Dhafra Airbase outside Abu Dhabi on Saturday to assist the Emirati military in defending against the attacks, the US Air Force announced.
The F-22 is the United States’ premier fifth-generation fighter jet designed for air-to-air combat. The commander of all US forces in the Middle East, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, told reporters last week that the aircraft has “one of the best look-down radars in the world” that can identify land attack cruise missiles and drones. The top US Air Force commander in the region, Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, said in a statement that the aircraft was “ideally suited” for the task.
The deployment comes as the US Navy has dispatched the USS Cole, a guided-missile destroyer with anti-ballistic missile capabilities, to the UAE.
