U.S. Air Force fighters have been using laser-guided rockets to down Houthi drones that are attacking ships in the Red Sea as the U.S. military seeks to drive down the cost of defeating cheap uncrewed systems, U.S. officials said.
The U.S. Air Force is used to operating from large, fixed bases in the Middle East. But recently, Air Forces Central tested its ability to disperse to smaller, unfamiliar locations in an Agile Combat Employment exercise—while flying combat missions.
When Lt. Col. Dustin Johnson was ordered to deploy to the Middle East last year, he and his fellow F-22 Raptor pilots prepared for an unusual challenge. As America’s premier air superiority fighter, the F-22 was designed to take on advanced enemy aircraft, capable of maneuvering ...
The U.S. carried out airstrikes on Dec. 3 to defend U.S. forces in eastern Syria, the Pentagon said. The operation destroyed three truck-mounted rocket launchers, mortars, an armored personnel carrier, and a T-64 tank. The strikes were intended to defend American forces at their outpost and ...
More of the U.S. Air Force fighters directed to deploy to the Middle East late last month began arriving in the region as Israel contemplates its response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel. A squadron of F-15E Strike Eagles from Mountain Home Air Force ...
The Pentagon is ordering additional U.S. Air Force warplanes to the Middle East after Israel launched punishing attacks on Lebanese Hezbollah and killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The U.S. will send three additional squadrons of fighter ...
F-22 Raptors have arrived in the Middle East “to address threats posed by Iran and Iranian-backed groups,” U.S. Central Command announced Aug. 8. The F-22s are part of an infusion of fresh forces in the region after the Jan. 30 killing of Hamas leader Ismail ...
A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Europe across the Middle East to the Persian Gulf on July 25 in a 32-hour flight, as conflicts continued to roil the area with U.S. troops coming under attack in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and ...
The F-15E Strike Eagle that downed an Iraqi helicopter with a laser-guided bomb in 1991 is still flying and just surpassed 15,000 flight hours during a deployment to the Middle East.
Amid the reduction in America's airpower in the Middle East, one asset has proven its resilience: the E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft of the 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron. Air & Space Forces Magazine had a rare opportunity to talk to the Airmen who ...
Air Force B-52 bombers roared over the Arabian Peninsula twice last week, flying alongside an American MC-130J and allied fighters during bomber task force missions.
A few weeks after downing swarms of drones to defend Israel from Iran, the 494th Fighter Squadron is back home at RAF Lakenheath, U.K.—and sporting some intriguing new paint. Publicly released photos from the Air Force show the F-15E Strike Eagles returning to their home ...