To fly from Elemendorf Alaska to Qatar, would it not have been quicker to go westward, rather than eastwards through the UK?

The great circle from Alaska to Qatar goes almost over the North Pole slightly on the Russian side. I don't think an Asian routing would be very easy as there are not many USA friendly air bases. Coming via the UK gives lots of alternates if things go wrong.

You'd just have t o lose one F-22 to make the shorter route a VERY expensive option

More attacks on shipping. (The Guardian)

Yep, great circle route ain't going to happen going over Russia, and so they'd have to route via Japan or Phillipines to also skirt around China, so a quick check shows going west would likely mean a 10,000 miles routing, whereas coming east via UK, is around 8000 miles, so significantly shorter, with many more friendly diversion options along the way.

Dont believe a word of it. Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida is reporting that on Friday the first hotline ever between Washington and Tehran was established to allow direct communication between the United States and Iran in order to prevent a full-scale regional war and to allow for de-escalation; with senior U.S. officials claimed to have already used the line to demand that any kind of Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel be postponed by at least two weeks, which is said to have been Aareed to by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and Carrier Strike Group 3, which departed Guam yesterday, to expedite their deployment to the Middle East.

The group was planned to replace that of the USS Theodore Roosevelt but is, in at least the short term, to provide reinforcement. The Roosevelt has already deployed at least one of her squadrons to Jordan*.

USS Georgia (SSGN-729), a conventionally armed Ohio class armed with Tomahawk SLCMs, has been ordered to reposition from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and Gulf.

* https://simpleflying.com/armed-f-a-1...ornets-jordan/

I refer you back to post #1286 which said intelligence predicted a coordinated Hezbullah/Iranian attack on Israel tonight.

https://www.pprune.org/military-avia...l#post11709379

Lebanese media is reporting that Hezbollah has evacuated its headquarters and offices in Beirut, due in anticipation of large scale Israeli strikes following an Iranian/Hezbollah attack.

Truckloads of electronics, furniture, and documents said to have been moved out of the city to locations in the countryside, while senior military and political leaders have gone into hiding.

So nobody will know where they are :rolleyes:

Video…#Iran 🇮🇷: "Jaish al-Adl" militants ambushed and killed Iranian Head of the Khash City's Intelligence Department in #Sistan & #Baluchestan.

The attack was carried out by three militants who were armed with a #Chinese 🇨🇳 Type 56-1 assault rifle and two AKM-pattern assault rifles.

As forecast….

https://www.defensenews.com/news/pen...bollah-attack/

Two US aircraft carriers to stay in Middle East after Hezbollah attack

The Pentagon has extended the deployment of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group after a largely failed attack by the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah on Israel over the weekend.

Choosing to keep the second carrier in the Middle East means there will now be two carriers and their warships available for U.S. Central Command amid the threat of a full regional war erupting.

The TR arrived in the Middle East in early July, while fellow carrier Abraham Lincoln steamed into the region last week.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the decision in a statement over the weekend.

Theodore Roosevelt replaced the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose deployment to the region had itself been extended multiple times, earlier this summer.

In addition to Lincoln, another fighter jet squadron, and other assets have also been rushed to the region. The Georgia, a ballistic missile submarine, is still on its way to CENTCOM, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday.

Ryder didn’t say how long the Roosevelt would be extended or exactly when the decision was made, only saying Austin chose to do so over the weekend……

What the heck are they doing talking about that kind of submarine in the press?

It's an SSGN, not an SSBN, and in order to deter Iran from launching any action the threat it represents needs to be publicised.

Revealing the fact it is approaching the CENTCOM area does not in any way locate or endanger the submarine or it's operations.

Got it, thanks. :ok: Sloppy reporting.

Guess he won't see sunshine for a while....

https://theaviationist.com/2024/08/2...parts-to-iran/

US-Iranian National Charged for Attempting to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

The US DoJ (Department of Justice) charged a US-Iranian citizen for attempting to illegally export “four types of aerospace components” into Iran, some of them meant for the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

According to the DoJ, Jeffrey Nader, associated with the California-based company Pro Aero Capital, was trying to smuggle nearly three dozen of such aircraft components since early-2023.

Nader falsely identified himself and Pro Aero Capital as the end-users of the parts and upon acquiring the parts, attempted to send them to his business associates in Iran by transshipping them through the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

“The items discussed in the indictment, however, were detained by a Special Agent with the Department of Commerce, and none were successfully exported from the United States,” the DoJ said in a statement........

I wonder if he's related to Ralph Nader.
On the other hand, this story tells me that the Phantoms are still flying.
Impressive!

Carrier Group Commander comments
 

Navy commander who oversaw carrier strike group in Red Sea says US command rejected suggestions to hit the Houthis harder over concerns about Iran (msn.com)

• Rear Adm. Marc Miguez said US leaders declined more aggressive strategies with the Houthis.
• High command was concerned about Iran at the time, Miguez said in a recent video interview.
• Miguez was in charge of a carrier strike group that defended commercial ships in the Red Sea for months.

A US Navy commander who oversaw most of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group's eight-month deployment in the Red Sea said officers had suggested more aggressive strikes on the Houthis, but high command declined them.



Rear Adm. Marc Miguez said in an that the US National Command Authority had to consider Iran's response.

"There are definite strategies that were put forward, but our National Command Authority decided that those — I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes — was not something we wanted to challenge," Miguez said in the interview published Monday.

"We all know Iranian-backed groups like the Houthis, where that threat's emanating from," he said. "And so that is the calculus that's handled at echelon zero, at the National Command Authority, with NSA, and everybody else."

"Those are things that I don't dabble in," he added.

Miguez told Carroll that the carrier strike group launched seven dedicated attacks on Houthi targets during its twice-extended deployment from October 2023 to June 2024.

The group, which includes the aircraft carrier Ike, was previously reported to have launched more than 500 munitions to hit the Yemeni rebels directly and intercept their drones and missiles as they attacked commercial ships in the strait.

Since the Eisenhower group departed, the Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups have moved into the Middle East as regional tensions continue to soar.

Miguez indicated that he believed the US should adopt a more aggressive posture with the Houthis.

"Moving forward, we are going to have to continue to deal with this," he said. "It'll be up to our National Command Authority to probably be more aggressive with our strike groups and all of our assets, not just Navy."

The Houthis have said they only target ships linked with Israel over the war in Gaza. But the group has also launched attacks on vessels from other countries that have no apparent ties to Tel Aviv.



More recently, the rebel group attacked a Greek-flagged oil tanker that caught fire and was left drifting in the Red Sea.

Miguez said that to stop the attacks, the US needed to marshal all of its resources more aggressively, including diplomacy and economic policy.

"If we can get that focus with a whole-of-government approach, I think that's what's going to result in a freedom of navigation in that critical strait, which impacts about 20% of the global commerce," he said.

Miguez was appointed as the Navy's chief of legislative affairs in July.

Since leaving command of the Eisenhower carrier strike group, he's been vocal about the US needing more training to fight drones after seeing how extensively the Houthis used them in the Red Sea.

The Pentagon's press service didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Interesting video on the military infrastructure capability of the Iranians. I had no idea they were so advanced in terms of built infrastructure.

A full-on joust with the Iranians is going to be much more complicated that I had thought. Their bunker system and network of tunnels is impressive.

They've been digging for over 30 years - it's their best defence against Israeli and the American air power