B-52s to the ME

[WhiteTara]

https://www.kfyrtv.com/2020/11/22/centcom-b-52s-from-minot-air-force-base-sent-to-middle-east-saturday/

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (KMOT) - B-52 Stratofortress crews assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base conducted a “short-notice, long-range mission” in the Middle East Saturday, according to U.S. Central Command.

According to CENTCOM, the mission was intended to “deter aggression and reassure U.S. partners and allies.”

The mission comes less than a week after the Pentagon announced reductions of troops to 2,500 in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to Bill Urban, a spokesman for CENTCOM, the bombers integrated with at least four other national defense elements.

It’s unclear how many aircraft or crew members from Minot were involved in the mission.

Urban said the last U.S. long-range bomber presence in the Middle East took place earlier this year.

Minot Air Force Base is one of two military installations in the United States that houses the B-52s, the other being Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Trump would nuke Iran on his way out the door

Just because he can and he knows it would cause a global melee.

[Klaralven]

2. Nothing said about where in the Middle East they land

Or possibly they just fly through on their way to Diego Garcia?

[Baclava]

10. "Arriving at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar"

and an aircraft carrier strike group


"The USS Abraham Lincoln has filed with Egypt for permission to go through the Suez Canal and is expected to transit in the next 48-72 hours, the aircraft carrier was scheduled to go to the Gulf anyway but is now going one to two weeks early."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-b52s-deploying-middle-east-iran-threat-today-2019-05-07/

[Klaralven]

11. Thanks re Al Udeid Air Base

Looks like the Abraham Lincoln is currently in San Diego. The dateline on your article is May 2019.

Also looks like the Nimitz has left the Persian Gulf and is in the Indian Ocean, possibly headed back to Bremerton?

http://www.gonavy.jp/CVLocation.html

[North Shore Chicago]

3. Thought you were referring

to the band (B-52's)


Yup, this miscreant is definitely trying to burn it all down, his niece warned us.

[llashram]

4. the 'shadow president'

Stephen Miller is a very dangerous human being. Sneakily trying to start war?

[WhiteTara]

5. my fear.

[sir pball]

6. Saber-rattling.

Iran's modern Russian S300 anti-aircraft missiles (thanks Vlad) would blow them out of the sky. Nice big "I iz tuff" imagery, but not actually useful.

[WhiteTara]

7. thanks!

[jrandom421]

8. The S300 is vulnerable, as Israel has shown.

If the B-52s are sent in, the Wild Weasels go in first to take out air defenses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel

[sir pball]

9. We'd just use multirole jets for the attack.

I'm not saying we won't or couldn't attack Natanz, just that we wouldn't do it with B-52s. You don't need widescale SEAD for a single precision strike, you just send in a few Strike Eagles with 2000-pound guided bombs along with some Falcons for defense. If it does happen, I'd wager it goes down almost exactly like the infamous Israeli strike on Iraq.

Of course, this is assuming a targeted strike to disable Iran's nuclear program. If it's a full-scale shooting war they want, then yes, a massive air defense suppression operation followed by heavy bombing would be one aspect of the operation. I haven't seen any serious preparations for that though, it would be hard to hide that level of build-up.