Posted on 10/11/2019 1:47:51 PM PDT by tkocur
Roughly 1,800 U.S. service members, as well as several dozen fighter jets and other air defense implements, will be sent to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Kingdom amid heightened tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Officials said the U.S. is set to ship two F-15 squadrons, two Patriot missile batteries, one anti-missile defense system known as THADD and other planes.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he informed Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman earlier Friday about the additional troops “to ensure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia.”
"Saudi Arabia is a longstanding security partner in the Middle East and has asked for additional support to supplement their own defense and defend the international rules-based order," Esper told reporters at the Pentagon.
The Pentagon’s announcement came just hours after Iranian officials said two missiles from an undetermined source hit one of its oil tankers that was traveling through the Red Sea about 60 miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
The explosions from the missiles damaged two storerooms aboard the oil tanker – identified as the Sibiti – and caused a brief oil leak into the Red Sea. The leak was later plugged, Iranian state television reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“Officials said the U.S. is set to ship two F-15 squadrons, two Patriot missile batteries, one anti-missile defense system known as THADD and other planes.”
The “other planes” are likely F-35s. And AWACS and tankers. And drones. And essential transport.
All going someplace we have no business being.
Those assets should be Chinese, Japanese and EU.
Pilots, ground crews, technicians, security, transportation and logistics. And LGBT liaisons and support groups...
defending the oil yes....(and I know we can self-supply, but still will be useful to keep access to the foreign stuff too)
defending the evil Saudi dictatorship, House, rulers?
someone’s gotta be kidding!
Why?
Saudi Arabia is an ally under actual kinetic attack and needs the weapons to defend against incoming Iranian missles. Aiding our Gulf Cooperation Council alies is in the interest of our own national security.
“Thanks for your insight and experience...”
If they were Marines, each and every one of them would be a rifleman and combatant first, with a “side job”.
But since it’s AF and Army, they probably have a Company (200) of security, and the rest operate and maintain the equipment.
Two squadrons of F-15s (assume 40 total) is likely 600 men, or more, alone. Each THAAD/Patriot battery likely about 50.
All the rest are staff, logicians and IT.
Your belief in the Free Republic antiSaudi 9/11 dogma is unfounded.
It is wrong now and always has been
Do you condone snake handlers in your church on Sunday morning?
The Enemy of my Enemy, is, my Friend.
Wrong side.
These days, most of that is subbed-out to private contractors... Triple Canopy etc.
Deploying has changed a lot in the last few decades.
The only "combatants" are the actual Fighter Pilots, though there will be some security forces in the mix to provide "force protection", aka base security. The vast majority will be support for the aircraft and weapons systems, along with appropriate command, staff, logistics, etc.
I'm not a zoomie, so not sure how many troops we deploy per aircraft, but the Air Force is only 4% pilots, so service wide, the ratio is 25:1. Also note that some portion of the force will be US Army, supporting the Patriot and THAAD systems.
You have to prepare an area for a withdrawal, just as you have to for an attack.
SA is a good spot for defending our assets, and a good place to move them to as needed.
It’s going to take time to leave the ME, anmd it has to be done carefully.
Lot cheaper to send a ground force than a carrier group for a medium or longer term deployment.
And BIG dollars for our defense industry
The Armenians are
To me, to assign blame, there are at least two (2) important questions:
Last time I checked we actually kicked the taliban out of Kabul and now have a functioning democratic government (for now). Whether or not all that holds together remains to be seen, but if you want to use history no other nation has ever went in with that kind of RoE before. The Russians, England or the Mongols never had to worry about “winning hearts and minds” over there.
In large part, this captures Trumps Iran strategy. He is moving pieces around to prevent Iran from starting a war. Even after repeated attacks on shipping, oil infrastructure, US unmanned aircraft, and more, Trump has refused to give the Mullahs an enemy to focus the attention of their increasingly angry population. Trump wants to crush Iran without firing a shot, or at least as few as possible.
bttt
Iran/Russia...
We pull out of Syria.
Turkey launches offensive in Syria
Iran move troops to the Syria border
Iranian oil tanker hit by missiles
US deploys fighter jets to Saudi Arabia
There is some intel we do not know about, pieces are moving quickly.
I think the USA pulling troops out of Syria is the USA pulling troops out of harms way. Something big is about to happen.
So if attacks on Saudi decrease their oil production, then other oil and gas producing countries (Russia) pick up the slack and gain influence.
Example, Turkey says mess with us and we send all our Muslim refugees to Europe. Russia says, mess with Turkey and we stop the flow of oil and gas to Europe.
Turkey then goes on to wipe out the Kurds.
I feel like there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. Of course, that is just me opinion.
Wrong. If your beloved Saudis were innocent then why did Bush assist prominent Saudis and Bin Laden relatives flee the US after 9/11?
The Saudis own and operate madras as in the US to spread their satanic Wahhabism. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
As a female, the horrific treatment of women in Saudi is unacceptable.
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