Although seven B -2 bombers launched from Missouri’s Whitman Air Force Base attracted the most media attention to hit the Iranian nuclear features, they were accompanied by additional 120 aircraft. These included F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters, as well as fuel to tankers and various tankers. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance plane. The submarines also launched the Tomahawk Cruise missiles in the Iranian goals, called “Operation Midnight Hammer”.
Throughout the time, the Navy had five aegis ships in the area, with SM -3 Interceptor These were important elements in protecting Israel against the upcoming Iranian ballistic missiles. The Navy had two aircraft carriers in the region, with a third deployment in Europe, which could also be redirected in the Middle East. Carrier-based F-35Cs provided air superiority and also served as a dicky in the strike on Iran.
Large -scale American military operation will appear to reduce the case – which have been laid ahead by many senior officials of the Trump administration – that the US must face a rapidly powerful and sophisticated Chinese danger to redirect the western Pacific to draw its army from the region. Nevertheless, the strike on the Iranian facilities, which can be repeated yet, will appear to showcase that Washington remains in the region for the future future.
The case is not particularly new to the US Army from the Middle East. In the early 1990s, State Secretary James Baker demanded the US to separate the US from the Middle East. However, he has since failed as policy makers since then.
Nevertheless, despite his role in attack on Iranian nuclear features, it is logical that at least one and perhaps both aircraft carriers, as well as their many escorts, are currently working in the field, Western Pacific can be rebuilt.
Even in the absence of carriers and their F-35s, there is a large remaining fighter force in the US that has spread throughout the Arabian Gulf. This force-which includes F-35A, F-22, F-15 and other fighter jets-is operated from Vishal Al Udid Air Base of Tari, Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Al Dhafra Air Base of UAE, as well as Kuwait. Various intelligence, monitoring and reconnaissance aircraft are already stationed in the Gulf.
Other fighter aircraft can be rotated in these bases as a given contingency may be required. Similarly, tankers can be deployed for bases in the area; More than 30 were removed in anticipation of the strike on Iran. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems can also be deployed in the Middle East so that it is already posted there.
The financial year 2026 budget proposal, combined with the budget reconciliation package, provides for 19 new naval ships, including two attack submarines and two more aesis ships. Nevertheless, these ships will take several years to enter the fleet, and in the meantime, the Navy, on less than 280 ships, will be put difficult to provide the presence in the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. something’s Gotta Give.
Therefore, the administration should consider whether it is really time to change the part of the carrier force from the Middle East. It is not an argument that all Atlantic-based aircraft carriers and most of their escorts should be permanently prepared in the Western Pacific. There are several requirements for carrier work forces as part of the US’s ongoing commitment for NATO. In fact, as long as there is a Russian threat to the alliance – the case for probably the years to come – America’s aircraft carrier force will remain an important element of the NATO’s preventive.
But the Middle East is another case. There are several hosts hosting American aircraft in the Gulf of Arabia that can take more aircraft if necessary, allowing Washington to get a powerful land-based preventive. The flexibility of the submarine force adds to that preventive. And the ability of bombing force either to transit from American bases or Diego Garcia The region carries forward American power.
If the Navy’s fleet was large, as was decades ago, it would have been beneficial to complement the middle eastern forces of America with a carrier appearance. But the fleet size was in the 1970s, and in the Middle East, as part of a major military operation, such as Operation Midnight Hammer, there is a luxury that the US can no longer tolerate.
Dov is a senior advisor on S. Zakheim Strategic and international study centers And for the Deputy Chairman of the Board Foreign policy research instituteHe was the Defense Department and Chief Financial Officer for the Defense Department from 2001 to 2004 and the Undercrapping of the Deputy Understanding of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
