Which takes us back to my original statement. We do not have static forces in place to engage an Israeli strike package, e.g. Patriot batteries and CAP.
Knowing someone is there and targeting them are two different problems. Simply knowing they are there only puts you 90 minutes ahead of the CNN news ticker.
I said we would have to conduct a specific mission if our intent was to engage them, and that’s the fact of the matter. Given the transit times and distances to northern Iraq from the Gulf or Med, it couldn’t be a reactionary mission. You would have to preposition tanker assets, and you would certainly want to get AWACS coverage of the area.
“Which takes us back to my original statement. We do not have static forces in place to engage an Israeli strike package, e.g. Patriot batteries and CAP.”
Your original posting to me stated: “There is no way that we are capping the entire middle east, and why would we still be protecting Iraqi airspace?” and. . .”The areas of coverage would require multiple AWACS on station 24/7.”
Didn’t see a clear statement that you were positing anything about engaging, as the original poster stated the Israelis could fly undetected and I replied that simply is not the case.
Cheers.