U.S. Amasses Stealth Jet Armada Near Iran

[Adrean]

http://vimeo.com/40935850

The U.S. Air Force is quietly assembling the world’s most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. Stealthy F-22 Raptors on their first front-line deployment have joined a potent mix of active-duty and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, including some fitted with the latest advanced radars. The Raptor-Eagle team has been honing special tactics for clearing the air of Iranian fighters in the event of war.

The fighters join a growing naval armada that includes Navy carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers plus patrol boats and minesweepers enhanced with the latest close-in weaponry.

It’s been years since the Air Force has maintained a significant dogfighting presence in the Middle East. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq Boeing-made F-15Cs flew air patrols from Saudi Arabia, but the Iraqi air force put up no resistance and the Eagle squadrons soon departed. For the next nine years Air Force deployments to the Middle East were handled by ground-attack planes such as A-10s, F-16s and twin-seat F-15E Strike Eagles.

The 1980s-vintage F-15Cs, plagued by structural problems, stayed home in the U.S. and Japan. The brand-new F-22s, built by Lockheed Martin, suffered their own mechanical and safety problems. When they ventured from their home bases in Virginia, Alaska and New Mexico, it was only for short training exercises over the Pacific. The F-15Cs and F-22s sat out last year’s Libya war.

The Air Force fixed the F-15s and partially patched up the F-22s just in time for the escalating stand-off over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. In March the Air Force deployed the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, flying 20 standard F-15Cs, to an “undisclosed” air base in Southwest Asia — probably either Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates or Al Udeid in Qatar. The highly-experienced Massachusetts Guardsmen, who typically have several years more experience than their active-duty counterparts, would be ready “should Iran test the 104th,” said wing commander Col. Robert Brooks.

Upgraded F-15Cs from the 18th Wing in Japan joined the Guard Eagles. The Japan-based fighters have the latest APG-63(V)2 and (V)3 radars, manufactured by Raytheon. They’re electronically-scanned radars that radiate many individual beams from fixed antenna clusters and track more targets, faster, than old-model mechanical radars that must physically swivel back and forth. The 18th Wing is working up a fleet of 54 updated Eagles spread across two squadrons. The video above, shot by an F-15 pilot, depicts some of the wing’s training.

F-22s followed this month. “Multiple” Raptors deployed to Al Dhafra, according to Amy Butler at Aviation Week. Air Force spokesman Capt. Phil Ventura confirmed the deployment. It’s not clear where the Raptors came from. If they’re from the Alaska-based 3rd Wing, they’re the latest Increment 3.1 model with boosted bombing capabilities in addition to the standard air-to-air weaponry. In any event, the Middle East mission represents the first time F-22s are anywhere near a possible combat zone.

The mix of old and upgraded F-15s and ultra-modern F-22s is no accident. When the Pentagon stopped producing the nearly $400-million-a-copy Raptor after 187 units — half as many as the Air Force said it needed — the flying branch committed to keeping 250 F-15Cs in service until 2025 at the earliest. Pilots began developing team tactics for the two fighter types.

“We have a woefully tiny F-22 fleet,” said Gen. Mike Hostage, the Air Force’s main fighter commander. So the flying branch worked out a system whereby large numbers of F-15s cover for small numbers of Raptors that sneak in around an enemy’s flank in full stealth mode. “Our objective is to fly in front with the F-22s, and have the persistence to stay there while the [F-22s] are conducting their [low-observable] attack,” Maj. Todd Giggy, an Eagle pilot, told Aviation Week.

One thing to look for is the presence in the Middle East of one of the Air Force’s handful of bizjets and Global Hawk drones fitted with the Northrop Grumman Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or Bacon. The F-22, once envisioned as a solitary hunter, was designed without the radio data-links that are standard on F-15s and many other jets. Instead, the Raptor has its own unique link that is incompatible with the Eagle. Bacon helps translate the radio signals so the two jet types can swap information. With a Bacon plane nearby, F-22s and F-15s can silently exchange data — for example, stealthy Raptors spotting targets for the Eagles.

It’s the methods above that the U.S. dogfighting armada would likely use to wipe out the antiquated but determined Iranian air force if the unthinkable occurred and fighting broke out. The warplanes are in place. The pilots are ready. Hopefully they won’t be needed.

:view:Original Article: Wired

[Ambrocious]

10 Ways Attacking Iran Could Destroy The United States

Alexander Higgins

April 26th, 2012

By all means and to every possible end the Pentagon has run their war game simulations. Israel has deployed their Iron Dome missile defense. Top military brass have given their assurance that the naval build up in Persian Gulf is absolutely certain to offset the threat of the Iranian Navy and mines being deployed into the Strait of Hormuz. The US and its allies have stopped importing Iranian oil and have been given full assurances by Saudi Arabia they will make up for the loss of Iran’s oil. Strike plans have been deployed to the dozens of military bases surrounding Iran. Hundreds of Tomahawk missiles have been given infrastructure targets and once they hit Iran’s defenses will be disabled. Thousands of Spy drones have been deployed and are monitoring every inch of Iran’s soil in real-time. Stealth Bomber has been given their flight plans with the B-52′s to follow. The media is in place to report. The stage is set and all systems are a go.

The false flag attack on is needed because NATO allies don’t trust US claims that a preemptive strike is needed after western intelligence lies over WMD’s in Iraq. The trigger is pulled and the entire world believes Iran just attacked Israel. The United States and NATO are forced to defend Israel. They launch their meticulously planned offensive believing Iran’s oil fields would be under their control in less than 24 hours and Tehran would be sacked within 48 hours.

That was the plan but little did they know that it was America that would fall and this is how it happened.

1) Iran Cracked US Stealth Technology

During the build up to the war The United States made it clear in their campaign of war propaganda that their strongest nuclear deterrence asset was their stealth and conventional bombers. When the decision is made to launch the attack on Iran the first assets that were deployed were stealth bombers from Whiteman, Mo., Maxwell Ala, and Barksdale, La. The United States was fully confident their stealth bombers would approach their targets undetected. The plan was the stealth bombers would unleash their payload so the bombs would strike their targets at the same time the Tomahawk missiles fired from warships located in the Persian Gulf hit their targets.

The only problem was that after Iran retrieved a downed stealth drone Iran warned the US they cracked their stealth technology and could track stealth bombers on their radar. The arrogant US military officials though it was all just a propaganda stunt. But it wasn’t and as soon as the US launched their stealth bombers to attack, Iran was fully aware the attack was coming in a few hours. It was the beginning of the end… for the United States.

Just like radar allowed the allies to indiscriminately take out German bombers during World War II the situation was now reversed. The US didn’t know it but their bombers were sitting ducks for the Iranian anti-aircraft systems that had been tracking them in the Gulf ever since they took off.

2) Iran Cracked US Drone Transmission and Missile Targeting Technology

Just like Iran warned the United States they cracked their drone technology, Iran also warned that the cracked the top-secret drone technology. Even though Iran made it clear they were able to crack the data encryption methods on the stealth drone they recovered by announced the flight plans on the drone revealed it was used to fly over Bin Laden’s compound two weeks before the assassination raid US military commanders were once again arrogant.

Top military brass assured civilian leaders in the United States that the retrieval of the data was inconsequential because the data was only stored on the drone using very weak encryption. What they refused to acknowledge was that Iranian engineers could reverse engineer the electronic communication technologies used by the drone to communicate with US military satellites. However, that is exactly what happened and not only did Iran achieve the ability to intercept such transmissions but they also achieved the ability to send their own control signals into the United States high-tech weapons systems.

As the stealth bombers approached their targets in Iran, the United States fired their Tomahawk missiles with the expectations that hundreds of critical infrastructure sites within Iran would be destroyed within moments. Except as soon as the missiles were in air, Iran overrode the coordinates on the Tomahawk missiles and redirected them to new targets.

FULL STORY

[jonnyj]

what a great tune havent heard for years.

[niharjhatn]

F-22's have been canned as far as I knew...

US is now hedging it's bets on the F-35 JSF.