Iran

[Lonewolf_50]

I'll go out on a limb, ORAC, and suggest that the US isn't going to start lobbing Tomahawks into Iran any time soon.

Originally Posted by tartare

Noting Biden's calls for de-escalation, would the US allow staging of an attack from Al Udeid, Ali Al Salem or the like?

No. The Host Nation would probably exercise its veto.
Based on what I learned at Al Udeid a couple of decades ago, the chance of launching strikes from there at Iran are likely zero (in the near term) and specifically as regards support to Israel as long as the Gaza thing keeps going.
The Host Nation has some sensitivities that must be respected. I doubt that this has changed, since I was there, and I'd point out that Al Udeid is a joint use base.

It houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, United States Air Force, Royal Air Force, and other foreign forces. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of the United States Air Forces Central Command, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF.\

In other words, it's a base that when all is said and done belongs to the Host Nation: Qatar.

Originally Posted by fdr

The intractability of the problem in the region without the desire for good will to prevail is not going away anytime soon.

Understatement of the week.

Originally Posted by fdr

We will get an idea how a true gen-5 aircraft goes against an early gen-4 air superiority aircraft with little updating. Not dull, but depressing.

Since the air war over Syria in the early 80's, when the F-16 and F-15 had lop sided results over various Migs, it seems to me that the Israelis do quite a bit of live Op Testing of American machines of war, with the usual result being dead Arabs.