USAF Hits Back in Mid-East
By Chris Gordon
When the U.S. launched airstrikes in eastern Syria on Nov. 12, it was the third bombing raid against Iranian-linked targets there in less than three weeks. Iranian-backed militias have increased their attacks on U.S. forces, systems, and facilities since Israel invaded Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians.
U.S. counterstrikes are intended to deter further attacks, but militias and rebel groups in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon continue to instigate. The U.S. counterstrikes sought to destroy a training facility in Abu Kamal and safe house in Mayadin used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian-backed militias.
“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III in a statement.
U.S. Mission Support Site Green Village, and Mission Support Site Euphrates, both in Syria, were each attacked Nov. 8, as was Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. Separately, a one-way enemy drone was shot down on the morning of Nov. 10 before reaching its target at Al Tanf Garrison, Syria, a U.S. military official said. Three U.S. service members were injured in the attack on Green Village outpost in eastern Syria, though they have since returned to duty, a military official said.
In response, two F-15Es struck an Iranian supported weapons storage facility at Maysulun, Syria. Multiple secondary explosions sent debris high into the air amid large plumes of smoke.
“If the attacks against our forces don’t decrease or stop, we will take additional measures,” Austin said Nov. 9. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect our troops, and we are absolutely serious about that.”
Few experts expect Iran to comply. More than 50 attacks since Oct. 17 have produced more than 56 injuries, according to the Pentagon, most of them traumatic brain injuries (TBI). “Thankfully, none of our troops have been injured seriously,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Nov. 9.
That same day, Houthi rebels in Yemen shot down an Air Force MQ-9 over the Red Sea. It was the third MQ-9 shot down by the Houthis in the past six years.
When Is an Attack … an Attack?
As attacks mount, so do discrepancies between official and unofficial counts. Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder acknowledged the difficulty and said the issue amounts to definitions. “It’s going to be an art, not a science, depending on a situation,” he said.
The Pentagon measures only those attacks in which U.S. personnel were “threatened.” The Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, and Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, which is charged with helping partner forces in Iraq and Syria fight against ISIS, are all involved in the calculus, according to U.S. officials.
But U.S. figures and those maintained by outside experts differ. Claims by militias can also muddy the waters. Both suggest the number of attacks may be greater than the Pentagon is acknowledging. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella title for multiple militias, claims it has carried out almost 60 attacks.
“Official claims of responsibility from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq are—in my experience—reliable indicators that an attack was launched,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.
Lister added that a likely explanation for the lower U.S. government number is due to attacks that land farther afield from the U.S. forces.
What is not in dispute is that the threats against U.S. forces have grown dramatically. Before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli military’s forceful response that followed, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria had been attacked about 80 times by Iranian-aligned militias since the start of the Biden administration. Not one of those took place in Iraq for at least the past year. Now, however, the militias are making repeated attacks in Iraq and have executed scores of strikes overall.
Some of those have been close calls. The Wall Street Journal reported that one drone landed on top of a barracks in Iraq but failed to explode. At Al Asad, a hangar was destroyed and, with it, a small aircraft inside, according to a U.S. military official.
Complicating the tallying of attacks is the possibility that some attacks may not have been intended for U.S. targets, but rather for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State militants, according to an analysis from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Militia estimates may be inflated, as well. Whether the groups are merely trying to harass U.S. forces or are attempting to inflict serious casualties can be a complex undertaking. Michael Knights of the Washington Institute notes that even “performative attacks” can be dangerous because some militias’ rockets are inaccurate and could pose a threat to U.S. forces even if the group intends to miss.
“For me, it’s about intent,” said Knights. “It’s about the fact that they’re risking hitting and killing our troops.”
Ukrainians Begin F-16 Training in US
By Chris Gordon
A “small number” of Ukrainian pilots began training with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard in October in “F-16 fundamentals,” according to a service spokesperson.
“The training curriculum will align with the foundational knowledge and skills of each pilot and is expected to last several months,” a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said in a statement provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The 162nd Wing trains pilots at Morris Air National Guard Base, at Tucson International Airport. It is the only unit in the U.S. Air Force tasked with training foreign pilots on F-16s as part of its day-to-day mission. The wing has trained pilots from over two dozen countries in how to operate the F-16.
“They’re very intimately familiar on how we do training of foreign military pilots,” Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, the director of the Air National Guard, said in September.
A typical F-16 training course takes around six months. However, U.S. officials have indicated Ukrainian pilots are unlikely to follow a standard model as the course will be suited to Ukraine’s need to protect its skies from Russian aircraft, drones, and missiles. European nations are also training Ukrainian pilots in how to operate the F-16.
Training of F-16 pilots typically includes significant classroom and simulator time in addition to training in the air. Foreign F-16 pilots also have to undergo English language training, which Ukrainians began recently at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
“For Ukraine, it is going to be tailored for exactly what they need to do, which is multirole, both air-to-air and air-to-ground,” Loh said. “We will train them to do the full multirole spectrum of what we can expect in their theory of conflict.”
Ukrainian pilots are not expected to start flying F-16s in combat until 2024. European nations have pledged to provide Ukraine with used F-16s. The U.S. has committed to training some pilots and maintainers to supplement the coalition of countries working to provide Ukraine with F-16s.
Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said in an interview in September that “up to about 10 pilots” would be trained by the U.S. The Pentagon has said the U.S. will also train “dozens” of maintainers, though the U.S. has not revealed whether that training has begun.
“One of the reasons why the F-16 is such a good match for the Ukrainian Air Force is because of the multiple roles that it can conduct,” said retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, a former fighter pilot and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “It can perform air-to-air combat, which is a role that is critical in providing air defense for the cities and military areas that require protection from Russian attack in Ukraine.”
The F-16 can also be used to employ air-to-surface weapons and to suppress enemy air defenses. Such capabilities would enhance Ukraine’s ability to retake its territory by providing capabilities that ground forces alone cannot, Deptula said.
“What the F-16 does allows the Ukrainians to leverage multi-domain operations in a way that they simply don’t have the ability to do today,” he added.
Though the U.S. has not pledged to provide any American-owned F-16s, transferring the stalwart multirole fighter—around 3,000 of which are in service around the world—requires approval by the American government to be given to Ukraine, which the Biden administration signaled it would sign off on in the summer.
The training by the 162nd Wing “follows President [Joe] Biden and Secretary [Lloyd] Austin’s decision to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s as part of the United States’ contribution to Ukraine,” the Air Force spokesperson said.