the F-22 Raptor, to a base in the United Arab Emirates—but few have noticed that this is actually the second time the Raptor has gone to the Persian Gulf and nothing happened before.
The US Air Force periodically sends Raptors abroad for temporary deployments—for example, to Japan and Canada—and the plane was deployed to the UAE before, in 2009, without much attention.
But in the growing environment of war talk in the Persian Gulf, this deployment sparked a great deal of speculation.
The Islamic Republic was angry at the deployment across the Persian Gulf. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, “We consider such a presence in the region useless and harmful and feel it creates an insecure environment in the region.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said such deployments “are mostly done to create a psychological trend and a sense of insecurity in the region.”
The UAE, of course, might feel the deployment creates a feeling of security for the small Arab states.
A Pentagon spokesman said the F-22s in the UAE were just a “very normal deployment.” He did not say how long they would remain in the UAE. But he said the deployment was “not a threat to Iran.”
Military analysts said the deployment was most likely approved for several reasons, including familiarizing pilots with the region, demonstrating support for the Arab states, practicing operations with Arab pilots and giving the Islamic Republic a hint of the military might it could face.
The Air Force gave a technical explanation, saying the deployment was meant “to strengthen military relationship, promote sovereign and regional security, improve combined tactical air operations and enhance interoperability of forces.”
The F-22 is a stealth fighter-bomber. About 190 have been built. It is the newest fighter in the US inventory, having been operational since December 2005. It has never seen combat operations and has not been used over Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya.
It is now at the UAE’s Ad-Dafra base, just outside Abu Dhabi. The French Air Force uses the base and the US Air Force has had planes stationed there for many years, though the planes are tankers and reconnaissance aircraft, not combat planes.