AF pulls 12 fighters from Turkey
Reuters reports that the Air Force is pulling out 12 F-15C fighters from turkey a month after they were sent there to bolster the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. The Pentagon is telling us to watch the squirrel;
“I wouldn’t read anything into us moving these out of there as any sort of less combat capability that we have within the coalition of being able to strike in Syria,” said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.
[…]
“It’s not only about the actual combat air patrols that you fly, it’s about the fact that you’re demonstrating the capability to do it,” Davis said.
So what does pulling those fighters out of the region say, then?
The other six F-15Es were deployed in a combat mission against Islamic State. The United States had described their deployment as part of an effort to thicken air strikes against Islamic State in Syria.
The U.S. military noted that it still had 12 A-10 strike aircraft as well as drone aircraft at Incirlik.
If having 12 fighters sends a message, then pulling those 12 fighters out sends the opposite message, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s just me.
Category: Politics
In fairness, the F-15C is an air-to-air model. ISIS have many fighters to shoot down? Pulling out the C models just says “yeah, we’re not worried about our strike aircraft being downed by enemy fighters.”
Good catch.
I’d have to think this is more linked in to reactions to Russia in Syria than anything else.
Keep your eye on the squirrel? WHICH squirrel? the one in the off white house, or the one in the dept of defense? we have so many freaking traitorous squirrels anymore its hard to tell!
An interesting sidebar to this story is that John Kerry was in Moscow yesterday meeting with Vladimir Putin. The result of their discussion was apparently that the Whitehouse has reversed its long-standing demand that Bashar Assad must go.
http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-moscow-talks-syria-ukraine-081842398.html#
It’s hard to say in what way the two events might be related, but a couple of ways of connecting the dots are that the need for air superiority in the area is reduced now that the Russians have shown they are not going to go full medieval after the loss of their own fighter, and that it also reduces the chances of an F-15 somehow accidentally crossing swords with a Russian aircraft and have things get out of control.
There was another story today that the US told the Iraqis that the Turks were in Iraq illegally. Can’t believe these three elements aren’t related.
I am watching the squirrel.
Is it a flaming squirrel being used to send signals?
The squirrel stories are bullshit! I heard it direct from the source!
Not sure. May be the thing bouncing up and down in the distance in this video.
https://youtu.be/lh21fnl2xEI
That shit NEVER gets old! Thanks for posting, Ex.
giggle like a little school girl. Thanks.
Le plaisir est tout a moi-meme!
Oui! C’est un magnifique vidéo
POOF !!!!
You’re a pile of shit !!!
I can’t always do the math around here.
You put 12 in
you take 12 out
you start to lookin all about,
You find 12 more and you say that they will count,
Thats what it all about.
Come on people I learned all this in kindergarten.
“It’s not only about the actual combat air patrols that you fly, it’s about the fact that you’re demonstrating the capability to do it,”
What the f@ck is that supposed to mean?
My dog’s bigger than your dog, and I’m taking him home. So there!Guess I showed him! And I’m telling my Mom!
Better yet, I’ll sic Jean Pierre the hair on you. Death by groveling.
I thought you wrote “death by groping”. It gave me great pause and many impure thoughts.
Gosh, we wouldn’t want to look indecisive, would we?
Those people are playing chess, and we’re playing checkers. With the REAL BIG checkers. But we’re trying REAL hard.
It will be remembered that chess originated with the (ahem) persians.
In a related note, the guy who invented the Hokey Pokey recently died. Everything was going well at the funeral home until they put his right foot in…..
“The U.S. military noted that it still had 12 A-10 strike aircraft”
Lucky for us the Air Force isn’t trying to get rid of those – oh, wait a minute…
Without the air cover of the air-cover-optimized F-15Cs, the strike-optimized A-10s can only operate with the permission and cover of someone else.
The F-15E “Strike Eagle” is capable of both modes. But, it has to be loaded for only one of them if it is to do well. Loaded all-up for ground attack, it needs someone else to be the air cover, unless the opposition is minor.
Who exactly is our air cover now? We just handed a veto to whoever it is, be it Turkey, Russia, or whoever else has all-up fighters there.
How will our ground attack sorties work, for example in support of the Kurds, if there is a refusal to “deconflict” by Russia and/or Turkey?
Or, are the E-models sufficient in mixed mode? (And they do have some serious “make the earth move” capability)
Any AF types able to sift this one?