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Days after Donald Trump said the Pentagon is targeting 52 Iranian bases, the US Air Force conducted impressive maneuvers.
Donald Trump was conclusive: ” We have 52 Iranian sites targeted . ” He said this after Iran’s theocratic regimethreatened reprisals for the death of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Forces, an organization listed as a terrorist by Washington. The president of the United States did not specify what those sites were, but it was not necessary. He warned that his country’s response would be ” disproportionate ” if Tehran took any American life.
And this Monday he demonstrated absolute military power. The operational base F-35 of the Air Force carried out a “ massive elephant walk ” on January 6 , launching 52 airplanes continuously. ” Elephant walk ” is a term used by the United States Air Force for the mobilization of a military aircraft just before takeoff, when they are in closed formation.
The Active Duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings performed the Combat Power Exercise to demonstrate “ their ability to use a large force of F-35A ” and prove the responsibility of personnel, aircraft generation, ground operations, operations flight and combat capability, according to a statement from Hill Air Base in Utah.
While the combined exercise had been planned for several months, the number of planes deployed for this purpose is striking: 52, the same number of targets Trump announced he had on his radar if Ayatollah Khamenei had any aggression. Putting 52 planes in motion simultaneously shows a unique preparation rate. Fifty-two, in addition, is the number of US diplomats and civilians captured by Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.
In mid-December, Hill Air Base received its F-35 number 78. Since the first arrival, Hill has completed more than 33,000 flight hours in 17,500 departures, according to a statement. According to an article in the Air Force Magazine , the base houses four F-35 squads, with active-duty combat squads 4, 34 and 421 and the Reserve’s 466 combat squad. The members and planes of these units are currently deployed in the Middle East and rotated through Europe during the summer of 2019.
The Fighter Wings revealed on Monday that the F-35A have finally reached their full war capacity. ” We are ready to fly, fight and win, ” tweeted the 419th Fighter Wings after the exercise. They added that the exercise ” pushed the limits and tested the ability of our aviators to deploy the F-35A en masse .”
The F-35 is the first to combine stealth radar evasion technology with supersonic speeds and the ability to perform short takeoffs and vertical landings. It has the ability to operate from land and sea and has previously been hailed as a great leap in aerospace technology.
Source: Infobae
