Hmmm.... US has F-22's parked a 6-minute flight from Iran
I'm sure you all remember the F-22, the plane
Hussein Obama didn't want. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did some mouthing off in Washington on Thursday, and it turns out that the United States now has some F-22's parked in an airbase in the United Arab Emirates just a
six-minute flight from Iran (Hat Tip:
Sunlight). In fact, they've actually been there since at least
April 2012. This is from the third link.
At a dinner in downtown Washington Thursday, US Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel touted the Pentagon’s deployment of advanced weaponry,
including the Air Force F-22 Raptor, to the Middle East.
The stealthy fighters, as well other “high-end air, missile defense,
and naval assets,” have been positioned in the region “to deter Iranian
aggression and respond to other contingencies,” Hagel said during his
remarks to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
It just so happens that satellite imagery of those F-22s in the Middle East has popped up on Google Earth.
Five F-22s have turned up on satellite imagery
at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates about 100 miles from
Iranian territory. While it’s no secret the US has deployed the
radar-evading Raptors to the Al Dhafra, this is the first time they have
popped up on publicly available satellite imagery.
The satellite picture was taken about a year ago, however it appears to have been put on Google Earth in recent months.
...
The US military goes to great lengths not to disclose the location of
Air Force assets in the region, mostly due to host nation sensitivity.
That said, the Air Force has periodically released pictures of F-22s on
the ground and training. Photo captions simply refer to the jets being
in “Southwest Asia.”
Hmmm.
Labels: F-22, Iranian nuclear threat, stealth aircraft, United Arab Emirates
US used 'stealth' helicopters against Bin Laden
Shavua tov v'chodesh tov, a good week and a good month (since we can sanctify the moon tonight) to everyone.
The New York Times reports that at least one of the helicopters that was used to take out Osama Bin Laden at the beginning of the week had been modified to give it '
stealth' characteristics.
The commandos blew up one of the helicopters after it was damaged in a hard landing, but news photographs of the surviving tail section reveal modifications to muffle noise and reduce the chances of detection by radar.
The stealth features, similar to those used on advanced fighter jets and bombers, help explain how two of the helicopters sped undetected through Pakistani air defenses before reaching the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad. The use of the specially equipped helicopters also underscores the extent to which American officials wanted to get to Bin Laden without tipping off Pakistani leaders.
Analysts said the raid was a rare case in which stealth aircraft, devised for conventional warfare during the cold war, became critical to fighting terrorism.
Read the whole thing. This line really hit home.
The top stealth fighter, the F-22, has never been flown in combat. The long-range B-2 bombers have been used sparingly, including a recent bombing run that destroyed an airfield in Libya.
I am sure that Israel would have uses for stealth aircraft.
Labels: Blackhawk helicopter, F-22, Sikorsky, stealth aircraft
