The U.S. Air Force sent two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to an "undisclosed location" in the Middle East earlier this year, which appears to be Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, demonstrating its ability to rapidly shift assets within the region to respond to emerging contingencies. Just days ago the U.S. military also publicized the flight of an F-35A over an isolated and strategic outpost in southern Syria, which has repeatedly come under attack from Iranian-backed militias and Russian forces in the past.
The two F-35s from 34th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron began flying sorties from their temporary deployment location on Feb. 16, but the Air Force's 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing's public affairs office only posted images of Joint Strike Fighter flight operations from the "undisclosed location" on the official Defense Visual Information Distribution Service website on Apr 20. The 332nd is based at Ahmad Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, but also oversees the 407th Air Expeditionary Group, which manages operations at Muwaffaq Salti. Elements of the 34th arrived at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, home of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, in November 2019, marking the start of the second F-35A deployment to the Middle East that year.
thedrive
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