Posted on 04/27/2012 3:39:43 PM PDT by Libloather
SEAD? Why put your premier, top-of-the-line, air superiority fighter into forward positions to do a secondary role when you have cruise missiles and stealth bombers to suppress the Ground-to-Air in prep for a nuclear reactor strike?
Iran isn’t about to attack out of their borders through the air.
Publicly deploying F-22s does nothing but alert the Iranians that we are preparing to strike.
The logic of this move escapes me.
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Only if you assume only the Iranians will be involved...
Maybe because any air attack will have to go through the Russian Navy stationed off the coast of Syria and their radar stations in the Syrian Golan and the Russian Naval facility at Tartus, Syria?
The Russians may have radar specs for the other planes but not the F-22. Using the others first, the Russians will simply notify the Iranians what is coming where, when.
This is assuming that the Russian Naval air elements (SU-35s et al) at Tartus do not engage the first wave. Russia is determined that Iran will not be another Libya ... which is why Russia has top-of-the-line air to air radar, air to ground missiles, and airframes stationed in the area manned by Russians.
Or maybe, as someone suggested, to give the Russians active Intel on F-22 capabilities?
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