#Amphibious Squadron 11

[usafphantom2]

Marines hit operational status with second carrier-capable F35-C unit

Todd SouthJul 31, 2024 at 04:56 PM

A West Coast Marine F-35C Lightning II squadron has achieved initial operational capability.

The Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 311, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, hit that key milestone Wednesday, 1st Lt. Madison Walls, wing spokeswoman told Marine Corps Times. The status means a unit can employ, maintain and train on the jet.

The Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, unit conducted its first independent live ordnance operations July 25.

“Initial operational capability is a milestone and achievement in readiness,” said Lt. Col. Michael Fisher, commanding officer of VMFA-311 in a statement. “It��s all on the backs of the Marines out there. What they do in their day-to-day actions is what made this possible.”

The squadron, also known as the Tomcats, flew more than 900 sorties, which equals nearly 1,700 flight hours and another 800 simulator hours and 2,400 maintenance actions to reach initial operational capability, according to a service release.

“The Tomcats have a storied history that includes legends such as Ted Williams and John Glenn, and participation in every major conflict since World War II,” Maj. Gen. James Wellons, commanding general of 3rd MAW, said in the release. “Today’s Marines add another chapter to that legacy with the introduction of the F-35C and fifth-generation capabilities to VMFA-311.”

Marine Corps Cpl. Larry Casas, a fixed-wing aircraft mechanic with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 311, directs Capt. Joshua G. Falgoust, an F-35C Lightning II pilot. (Lance Cpl. Jennifer Sanchez/Marine Corps)

In 2020, the squadron deactivated its AV-8 Harrier jets and then reactivated in April 2023 with 84 Marines and one F-35, reflecting the Marine Corps’ move to fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The transition has resulted in a gradual reduction in Harriers and F/A-18 Hornets.

The Corps’ two F-35C squadrons, VMFA-311 and VMFA-314, are both stationed at Miramar.

The VMFA-314, or Black Knights, reached initial operational capability in 2020, Marine Corps Times previously reported.

The F-35C is specifically engineered for carrier-based operations, featuring heavier landing gear and enlarged, foldable wings designed to facilitate catapult launches and arrestments on aircraft carriers. The foldable wingtips also facilitate easier storage on the carrier deck.

The “C” variant holds more fuel than other versions of the single-seat jet, with nearly 20,000 pounds of internal fuel capacity for long-range flights.

“The next step for VMFA-311 is full operational capability, attained when VMFA-311 receives its complete inventory of ten F-35C aircraft, projected for fiscal year 2025,” according to the release.

The Marine Corps has used the F-35B for years. The “B” variant, built to use short runways and flat-decked amphibious assault ships, is capable of short take-offs and vertical landings.

Currently, the Corps has eight operational F-35B squadrons and two training squadrons, totaling over 100 F-35B aircraft globally.

Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.

@DefenseNews.com

[sa7abnews]

Iran beware: US moves these 6 top of the line strike options into position in the Middle East

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/iran-beware-us-moves-these-6-top-of-the-line-strike-options-into-position-in-the-middle-east/

Iran beware: US moves these 6 top of the line strike options into position in the Middle East

Hurry up. America’s top shooters are moving into position to target Iran.  With Sunday night’s announcement hastening the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and moving the submarine USS Georgia under U.S. Central Command’s control, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is making sure U.S. Central Command is prepared to attack Iran, and/or its proxies, if Tehran strikes Israel in the next few days.Air Force F-22 fighter jet pilots have already unpacked their bags at a Middle East base where they arrived Aug 8.  Here are more top shooters under Central Command’s operational control – that we know of. It’s very unusual for the Pentagon to make announcements about secretive submarines. But then, the USS Georgia is a very special vessel.  Powered by a nuclear reactor, the USS Georgia began life as an Ohio-class “boomer” designed to carry nuclear weapons, then underwent a high-tech conversion into a conventional guided-missile attack submarine.  Now she can carry an astounding 154 precision Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles.  And SEAL teams with mini-submarines.  Add in a highly advanced communication suite, and USS Georgia can stare down Iran all by herself. US ASSETS DEPLOYED TO MIDEAST WILL HELP ISRAEL BUT WILL UNLIKELY ALTER IRAN’S MIND ON RETALIATION, EXPERTS SAYThe USS Georgia was already on exercises in Europe and is positioning in the Eastern Mediterranean. Her Tomahawk missiles have roughly a 1,000-mile range, which equates to good coverage well into Iran.  The most modern Tomahawks also accept targeting updates while in flight, giving commanders maximum flexibility to act on fresh intelligence. That’s six in the Persian Gulf, and two more in the Red Sea, per a count from the Washington Post on Aug. 2.  Crews from ships like USS Laboon have been whacking Houthi drones, missiles and unmanned boats for months.  The DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers can fire Tomahawks, too, as but the destroyers will have some of their vertical launch tubes loaded with Standard Missiles for air defense across the region, as seen when Iran attacked Israel back in April. Austin ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to speed up its transit from the Pacific to the Middle East, where the USS Theodore Roosevelt is already running sustained flight operations.  Nuclear-powered carriers can charge ahead at 35 knots per hour without slacking off, since they don’t refuel.  The Middle East crisis has compelled Central Command to keep a carrier in the Red Sea area almost non-stop for 10 months and it has required four carriers – Ford, Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Lincoln – to meet the tasking. Moving the Lincoln actually leaves the Navy one carrier short in the Pacific. IRAN IS LIKELY WEIGHING ‘RISK OF FAILURE’ BEFORE POTENTIAL ISRAEL STRIKE: JOSEPH VOTELAustin touted the F-35Cs on the Lincoln by name on Sunday, because these stealthy, carrier-based jets have tremendous radar and other sensor capabilities known to intimidate Iran.  In an unusual twist, it’s a U.S. Marine Corps squadron flying the F-35Cs.  Other Marines fly the F-35B vertical take-off and landing variant with amphibious ships.  But this squadron, the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA 314, trains and flies as part of Carrier Air Wing 9.  (Don’t look so shocked.  Marines flew from carriers in World War II and Korea.)Yes, the very jet flown by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick.”  Carrier Air Wing 11 on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt has three F/A-18E squadrons.  They have been busy day and night with air patrols against Houthi aggression in the Red Sea and doing their part in knocking out Houthi drones, missiles and unmanned boats. This ground-attack variant of the F-15 air superiority fighter is affectionately known as the “Mud Eagle” and has been operating quietly in theater for ages. The F-15Es are true fighter-bombers, and their most experienced pilots have thousands of combat hours from the anti-ISIS war.  The two-seat F-15Es carry air-to-air missiles, a gun and “any nuclear or conventional weapon in the USAF inventory.” Just so you know, Iran.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONAustin’s choice to deploy America’s top of the line strike options serves two purposes. The first, obviously, is to deter Iran and constrain Iran’s tactical options as the mullahs mull their retaliation plans.  But the specific choice of these forces is to provide Central Command with capability for sustained, precision strikes against military targets in Iran or among Iran’s militia groups.Don’t forget that U.S. B-2 bombers can reach any spot on the globe.  Also, B-1 bombers were used by Central Command in attacks on Syrian targets. I would not be surprised to see the B-1s in action again with their joint stand-off missiles.Beyond this, expect Britain, France, regional allies like Jordan, and others to have forces in play.Of course, China is taking note of this firepower display. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued a statement on Saturday supporting Iran’s “dignity” and right to self-defense, whatever that means.  Iran is the center of Mideast terror and China is Iran’s top ally. Gen. Erik Kurilla at U.S. Central Command will soon have all he needs to defend, deter or strike back. As they strive to keep a lid on this crisis, we owe a big debt of gratitude to the American men and women making these crisis deployments in the Middle East. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REBECCA GRANT

[whatisonthemoon]

U.S., Philippines Kick off Largest-ever Balikatan Exercise as Defense, Foreign Affairs Leaders Meet in Washington (April 11, 2023)

▲ U.S. Marines with 3rd Landing Support Battalion, Army Soldiers, Navy Sailors, and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines listen during a rehearsal of concept brief in preparation for Balikatan 23 at Camp Agnew, Casigueran, Philippines on April 4, 2023.

from USNI news by Rene Acosta and John Grady

MANILA – The Philippines and the United States began the largest iteration of Balikatan, the annual military exercise involving Filipino and American troops, during a Tuesday ceremony at the Philippine military’s general headquarters of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino opened the exercise on Tuesday as defense and foreign affairs officials also met for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington D.C., to discuss the direction of the alliance between the two countries.

“For the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in particular, this year’s Balikatan Exercise is most timely as we fast-track the enhancement of our capabilities for maritime security and domain awareness, as well as our employment concept of newly acquired equipment and weapon systems under our modernization program and application of newly developed doctrines – with the end-in-view of projecting a credible defense posture,” Centino said.

More than 17,600 American, Filipino and Australian sailors, Marines, soldiers and airmen will participate in the exercise, Enrique Manolo, secretary of foreign affairs, said in Washington, D.C., on Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The exercise illustrates the importance Manila places on internal security, Manolo said, and signifies another step in modernizing the more than 70-year-old alliance between the United States and the Philippines.

The increased emphasis on interoperability required to address new security challenges, primarily coming from Beijing, facing the alliance allows Manila “to shore up our defensive posture.”

“Balikatan provides unparalleled opportunities to demonstrate the strength and readiness of the Philippine-U.S. security alliance,” Lt. Col. Daniel Huvane, Balikatan Combined Joint Information Director, said in a news release from the American embassy in Manila.

Last year’s drills saw about 9,000 military participants in the annual exercise that began in 1991.

Philippine military public affairs office chief Col. Jorry Baclor said the 38th iteration of the bilateral exercise highlights four major events – a command post exercise, cyber defense exercise, field training exercise and humanitarian civic assistance.

Weeks before the exercise, the Philippine military said that this year’s phase would be the biggest, as U.S. armaments will even be in full use, including the Patriot and Avenger missiles and HIMARS.

This coming Thursday, U.S. and Filipino troops will also conduct a live firing of the U.S. anti-tank weapon Javelin, still as part of the recently concluded phase one of the U.S.-Philippines “Salaknib” exercise, which involved the Philippine Army and the U.S. Army in the Indo-Pacific, according to Philippine Army spokesman Col. Xerxes Trinidad.

An F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Figther, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, sits parked on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) during a scheduled port visit at Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo April 5, 2023. US Navy PhotoOn the eve of Balikatan’s opening, Filipino and American soldiers trained together in “bunker and room-clearing” operations as part of the opening salvo at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

“This year’s Balikatan will be the biggest ever, an indication of the growth of our alliance and how it continues to evolve to meet our shared goals,” Heather Variava, U.S. Chargé d’affaires in Manilla said on Tuesday. Baclor said the participating forces will enhance their joint and combined capabilities in maritime security, amphibious operations, live-fire exercise, urban operations, aviation operations, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

The Philippines emphasized the importance of Balikatan to both U.S. and the Philippine forces, as Licudine said it builds “interoperability, enhances capabilities, and demonstrates mutual defense of the Philippine sovereign territory.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared: “Balikatan is an important opportunity to train shoulder-to-shoulder and build trust and confidence that enable our forces to respond to crises and contingencies as a team.” In Washington D.C., Filipino Department of National Defense Officer in Charge Carlito Galvez and Enrique Manolo held the 2+2 meeting with Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The U.S. State Department in a statement issued ahead of the meeting said Blinken and Austin would reaffirm Washington’s ironclad commitment to its alliance with the Philippines, which it said has “contributed to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Speaking at CSIS on Monday, Manalo reiterated the distance between the Philippines and Taiwan – about 90 miles – where tensions have been rapidly rising between the United States and China over the future of the self-governing island.

Chinese naval militia continue to harass and ram Filipino fishermen working in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, he said. Beijing warships and coast guard vessels are ignoring a 2016 international tribunal’s ruling dismissing its claims to much of the South China Sea. The Chinese are treating the region as its sovereign territory.

Beijing has built at least seven artificial islands on coral reefs that are capable of supporting maritime operations and military airfields. One of those man-made islands is in the Spratlys, off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Manolo added, “we feel the United States is an important partner” militarily and economically. He noted several times at the CSIS event the importance of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with Washington in keeping the Indo-Pacific a safe and secure environment for maritime commerce. He indicated that the United States and other nations, possibly Japan and Australia, may soon begin conducting joint maritime patrol operations with the Philippines to secure its expansive ocean borders.

Manolo added that the Philippines has the fourth largest coastline in the world, and it’s hard to secure but vital to economic development. The secretary added that Manila also looks to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, as a forum to resolve differences peacefully. The association is developing guidelines on acceptable international behavior and mechanisms to avoid conflict in territorial and trade disputes. China is a member.

Included in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)were arrangements for the United States to establish nine facilities for future American operations. He said he will discuss what activities will be allowed at the last four added in the arrangement during the meeting in Washington with his counterpart, Blinken, and the two nations’ secretaries of defense.

The “2 Plus 2” meetings had been shelved for seven years when then-President Rodrigo Duerte promised he’d shift security priorities away from the United States and more toward China to bolster Manila’s sovereignty in regional politics.

A September meeting in New York between President Joe Biden and newly installed President Ferdinand Marcos that led to the new defense agreement clearly demonstrated the shift back toward the United States.

“We obviously have to work [WITH?] them,” Manolo said, referring to China. “Equity in the maritime commons” is a foreign policy goal as Manila is “on the threshold” of becoming a regional economic power. He welcomed public and private assistance in filling infrastructure needs for future development and growth. He pointed to how important Manila can be in delivering clean energy renewables with investments made to explore its deposits of important raw earth and other green minerals.

“Multilateralism must thrive” to avoid conflict, said Manolo.

But “we want to make [discussions with China] compatible with the U.S. alliance.”

Notes and links below

Japan to join Salaknib drills between PH, US armies - “Japan is joining a large-scale joint exercise between the Philippine and US armies for the first time, a top military official said, in the latest of the emerging trilateral defense partnership of the three nations.A handful of observers from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) will participate in Salaknib (shield in the Ilocano dialect) — an annual exercise led by the Philippine Army to strengthen the readiness and interoperability with its counterparts from the United States — which will kick off next week.”

Stop US and Chinese aggression in the Philippines! Turn imperialist wars into wars against imperialism! The US is complicit in war crimes

The WACL and CAUSA’s Role in the Ruthless Violence of US-Philippines Counterinsurgency

Death Squads in the Philippines by Doug Cunningham

Those Spared in Duterte’s “War on Drugs” May Go to Moonie Rehabilitation

[rjbailey]

190930-N-DX072-1164 by U.S. Pacific Fleet Via Flickr: 190930-N-DX072-1164 CELEBES SEA (Sept. 30, 2019) An assault amphibious vehicle assigned to 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division departs the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20) during exercise Tiger Strike 2019. Tiger Strike focuses on strengthening combined U.S. and Malaysian military interoperability and increasing combat readiness through amphibious operations and cultural exchanges between the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) and the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps team. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anaid Banuelos Rodriguez)

[lonestarbattleship]

State Ship Series: USS New York

There have been four ships commissioned named after the state of New York in the US Navy. The state of New York was admitted into the United States on July 26, 1788.

USS New York (1800), New York class, three masted 36 gun frigate, commissioned from 1800 until she was burned by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812.

[no image or photo]

USS New York (1820), North Carolina Class, 74 gun ship of the line. "One of the nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each authorized by Congress on April 29, 1816." Never launched, burned on the slipways at the Norfolk Navy Yard to prevent capture by the Confederates.

[no photo or image]

USS New York (1863), Guerriere class, screw sloop-of-war, laid down in 1863, never completed. Originally named Ontario but was renamed New York in 1869. Scrapped in 1888. One of the eight wooden steam frigates authorized by the United States Navy during the American Civil War to provide a postwar general purpose fleet.

USS New York (ACR-2/CA-2), armored cruiser, in commission from 1893 to 1933. Renamed USS Saratoga in 1911 to free the name for BB-34, and again in 1917 to USS Rochester to free the name CC-3, later CV-3. Fought in the Spanish–American War and escorted convoys during WWI. She was moored at the Olongapo Shipyard at Subic Bay, Philippines and later scuttled on December 24, 1941 to prevent her capture by the Japanese.

USS New York (BB-34), New York Class, Dreadnought Battleship, nickname was "The Old Lady of the Sea" or just "Grand Old Lady", in commission from 1914 to 1946. Served in World War I with the 6th Battle Squadron and accidentally hit a U-boat with her propeller. Modernization in the 1920's. During WWII, she escorted convoys in 1941 and 1942. She fought in Operation Torch, invasion of Iwo Jima and invasion of Okinawa. Used as a training ship in 1943 and 1944. Took a kamikaze hit in 1945. Survived both atomic bomb tests in Bikini atoll, later sunk from live fire practice off of Hawaii in 1948. She earned three battle stars during WWII.

USS New York (LPD-21), San Antonio Class, amphibious transport dock, in commission from 2009 to present. Part of her hull came from the steel of the World Trade Center. She came about from the letter from the Governor of New York asking the Navy to name a surface vessel be named after New York following the 9/11 attacks.

Ships named New York but not named after the state.

USS New York (1776), gundalow, in service from 1777 to 1778. Found in the Battle of Valcour Island. Possibly named after the city rather than the colony. Note: her exact design is unknown, possibly looked similar to USS Philadelphia (1776) as pictured above.

source, source, source

LOC: det 4a04864

[nebris]

USS Helena (CL-50) was a Brooklyn-class light cruiser built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s, the ninth and final member of the class. The Brooklyns were the first modern light cruisers built by the US Navy under the limitations of the London Naval Treaty, and they were intended to counter the Japanese Mogami class; as such, they carried a battery of fifteen 6-inch (150 mm) guns, the same gun armament carried by the Mogamis. Helena and her sister St. Louis were built to a slightly modified design with a unit system of machinery and an improved anti-aircraft battery. Completed in late 1939, Helena spent the first two years of her career in peacetime training that accelerated as tensions between the United States and Japan increased through 1941. She was torpedoed at the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and was repaired and modernized in early 1942.

After returning to service, Helena was assigned to the forces participating in the Guadalcanal campaign in the south Pacific. There, she took part in two major night battles with Japanese vessels in October and November 1942. The first, the Battle of Cape Esperance on the night of 11–12 October, resulted in a Japanese defeat, with Helena's rapid-fire 6-inch battery helping to sink a heavy cruiser and a destroyer. The second, the first night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in the early hours of 13 November, saw a similar defeat imposed on the Japanese; again, Helena's fast shooting helped to overwhelm a Japanese task force that included two fast battleships, one of which was disabled by heavy American fire and sunk the next day. Helena sank a destroyer and damaged several others in the action while emerging relatively unscathed. During her tour in the south Pacific, she also escorted convoys carrying supplies and reinforcements to the Marines fighting on Guadalcanal and bombarded Japanese positions on the island and elsewhere in the Solomons.

Following the American victory on Guadalcanal in early 1943, Allied forces began preparations to advance along the Solomon chain, first targeting New Georgia. Helena took part in a series of preparatory attacks on the island through mid-1943, culminating in an amphibious assault in the Kula Gulf on 5 July. The next night, while attempting to intercept a Japanese reinforcement squadron, Helena was torpedoed and sunk in the Battle of Kula Gulf. Most of her crew were picked up by a pair of destroyers and one group landed on New Georgia where they were evacuated the next day, but more than a hundred remained at sea for two days, ultimately making land on Japanese-occupied Vella Lavella. There, they were hidden from Japanese patrols by Solomon Islanders and a coastwatcher detachment before being evacuated on the night of 15–16 July. Helena's wreck was located in 2018 by Paul Allen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Helena_(CL-50)

[j-r-macready]

210718-N-XB010-1025 by U.S. Pacific Fleet Via Flickr: CORAL SEA (July 18, 2021) An MV-22B Osprey aircraft carrying Capt. Greg Baker, Commodore, Amphibious Squadron 11, and Col. Michael R. Nakonieczny, commanding officer of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), approaches the USS New Orleans (LPD 18) flight deck. New Orleans, part of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, along with the 31st MEU, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Desmond Parks)

[skyfire85]

-An AV-8B from VMA-163 takes-off from USS Makin Island (LHD-8). | Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy

Flightline: 70 - McDonnell Douglas/BAe AV-8B Harrier II

The AV-8A was operated by the USMC beginning in 1971, but the Marines quickly found that the Harrier was less powerful than hoped, only capable (with a standar takeoff, no less) of carrying a smaller payload than an A-4 over a shorter range. In 1973, a joint US/UK team began work on a project to develop a new Harrier, powered by a redesigned Pegasus 15 engine. This aircraft, dubbed the AV-16, would have double the AV-8A’s range and payload, and would replace the Harrier GR.1/3 in RAF service and the AV-8A and A-4 Skyhawk in USMC roles. The UK pulled out of the project in 1975, owing to rising costs and decreased defense spending, and the US, unwilling to foot the costs alone, canceled the program. McDonnell Douglas and Hawker Siddeley continued work on upgrading the Harrier, and in 1976 began modifying two AV-8As with new wings, revised intakes and nozzles, and other aerodynamic changes. These mules were designated YAV-8B.

-One of two AV-8As being modified into YAV-8Bs. | Photo: U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News

The results showed greater than expected drag, but positive test results in other areas, including payload, range, and V/STOL performance, led to the award of a development contract in 1979. In 1981 BAe (formed by the nationalization and merger of British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Scottish Aviation) rejoined the program in 1981, enticed by the more affordable path McDonnell Douglas was forging. The MoU stipulated a 60/40 split between the US and UK companies, with airframe production taking place at McDonnell Douglas’ facilities in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, and BAe’s Kingston and Dunsfold facilities, and engine production split 75/25 between Rolls-Royce (which had previously absorbed Bristol Siddeley) and P&W.

-Illustration: McDonnell Douglas

The AV-8B Harrier II was extensively redesigned from the AV-8A, with the forward fuselage extended and the cockpit raised by ten inches, providing better pilot visibility. To compensate for these changes, the rear fuselage was lengthened by a foot and a half, and a taller tail, based on that used on the Sea Harrier, was fitted. The biggest change was the new supercritical wing, which was larger than the one used on previous models (the outriggers on the AV-8B are in the same place as on the AV-8A/GR.1/3, giving a sense of scale), and had a higher aspect ratio and decreased sweep. The new wing also had leading edge extensions, all of which grants the Harrier II a 6,700lb increase in payload with a 1,000' takeoff roll. The AV-8B was the first combat aircraft to feature carbon fiber composites in its construction, with the wing and forward fuselage being almost exclusively carbon/epoxy construction, leading to the Harrier II being almost five hundred pounds lighter than if it had been constructed from metals alone.

-An AV-8B from VMA-331 in 1991 during Operation DESERT STORM. The squadron eventually dropped 256 tons of ordinance during the war and became the first attack squadron to operate from an amphibious assault ship. | Photo: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

The AV-8B completed operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in 1985, and entered service with the USMC starting with USMC squadron VMA-331 (“Bumblebees”). In 1990 Marine Harrier IIs were deployed to the Persian Gulf on the amphibious assault ships USS Nassau and Tarawa as part of Operation DESERT SHIELD, flying training and support sorties. Despite plans to hold the AV-8B in reserve during the initial phases of DESERT STORM, Harriers were pressed into service on 17 January in response to a call for close air support from an USMC OV-10 Bronco against Iraqi artillery positions. The next day, AV-8s began strike missions against Iraqi targets in southern Kuwait. During Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, 86 AV-8Bs amassed 3,380 flights and about 4,100 flight hours, with a mission availability rate of over 90 percent. Five AV-8Bs were lost to enemy surface-to-air missiles, and two USMC pilots were killed. After the end of the war, Norman Schwarzkopf included the AV-8 along with the F-117 and AH-64 in his list of weapons that played crucial roles in the campaign. Marine Harriers remained in the Gulf region during Operation SOUTHERN WATCH from 1992 to 2003, operating from ‘phibs in the Gulf and from forward operating bases such as Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait. Marine Corps Harrier IIs were later flown during Operation ALLIED FORCE over Yugoslavia, ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan, and the 2003 Iraq war.

-An AV-8B Harrier aircraft hovers above the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) as the pilot makes a vertical landing. The Bataan was dubbed “Harrier Carrier” during Operation Iraqi Freedom. | Photo: Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Jonathan Carmichael - USN

Two major variants of the AV-8B were produced: the Night Attack Harrier and the Harrier II Plus. First fielded in 1991, the Night Attack Harrier featured a FLIR camera on the nose cone, a wide-angle HUD, provisions for NVGs and a digital moving map. The Night Attack Harriers are powered by a Pegasus 11-61 (aka the F402-RR-408), which produce 23,000lbf of thrust. The Harrier II+ is also powered by the -408, and is fitted with a APG-65 multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar, taken from early model F/A-18s during their own upgrades to APG-73 radar. This allowed Harrier II+ to carry AIM-120 AMRAAM, as well as AGM-65 Maverick and AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, though the angle-rate bombing system was removed. Upgraded AV-8Bs are also capable of carrying a LITENING targeting pod, allowing the employment of PGMs.

-An AV-8B Night Attack Harrier, showing the FLIR camera mount on the nose. | Photo: Dick Wels

-An AV-8B Harrier II+ hovering. | Photo: D. Miller

The Italian Navy ordered two TAV-8B trainers, followed by a further order of 16 AV-8B+ to operated from the carriers Andrea Doria and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Italian Harriers were part of the nation’s commitment to the NATO campaign over Kosovo, dropping conventional and LGBs. An additional 7 aircraft were ordered in the early 200s to serve on the new carrier Cavour, with existing aircraft also upgraded to carry AIM-120s and JDAM guided bombs. Italy has ordered a force of 15 F-35B Lightning IIs to replace its Harriers.

-An Italian AV-8B+ launching from the carrier Cavour’s ski jump. | Photo: Aldo Bidini

Already an operator of AV-8A Matadors, the Spanish Navy was the first international operator of the AV-8B Harrier II, ordering 12 of its own variants, known as the VA-2 Matador II. The Matadors operated from Príncipe de Asturias beginning in 1989. In 1993, an additional eight VA-2+ (the equivalent of the AV-8B+) were ordered, along with a TAV-8B trainer. In 2000, Boeing (which had absorbed McDonnell Douglas) signed a contract to upgrade a number of early model VA-2s (the number varies from 2-11) to Harrier Plus standards, allowing them to carry AIM-120 missiles. Due to budget constraints, only five of the original Matador IIs were upgraded. The Matadors were part of Spain’s commitment to Operation DENY FLIGHT, enforcing the UN’s no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Asturias was decommissioned in 2013, the Matador IIs operate from the amphibious assault ship Juan Carlos I. Spain was interested in replacing the VA-2s with F-35Bs, but has instead settled on extending the Matador’s service life, citing the cost of replacements.

-A Matador II+ over RIAT in 2019. | Photo: Airwolfhound 

The first RAF Harrier II, known as the GR.5, entered service in 1987, replacing earlier GR.1 and GR.3 variants. The GR.5 differed from the AV-8B in that it had stainless steel leading edges to meet RAF bird-strike requirements, as well as in avionics and weapons. The RAF’s GR.5s were considered too immature a system to be deployed for the 1991 Gulf War, though several were dispatched to patrol the no-fly zones in 1993. Beginning in 1990 BAe began testing an upgraded Harrier II GR.7, which was broadly similar to the Night Attack AV-8B. After a successful test program 34 GR.7 were delivered through 1991, with the existing GR.5s upgraded beginning the same year. The GR.7s, hastily modified with GPS navigation, were deployed with NATO forced to the former Yugoslavia, and carried out recon and strike missions, often dropping LGBs on targets designated by SEPECAT Jaguars. Later, GR.7s were part of the UK’s commitment to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Beginning in the middle 2000s, BAe began development of the GR.9 upgrade, which would improve communications, ground proximity warning and navigation systems, followed by the integration of the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile. The GR.9 upgrade also included replacement of fatigued airframe components. GR.9s were deployed to Afghanistan in 2007, allowing aged GR.7s to be withdrawn. The stresses of war and advancing age of the fleet caused the wholesale retirement of the RAF’s Harrier IIs in 2011, with their tasks being assigned to Tornado GR.4s until delivery of the F-35B Lightning. 

-A Royal Air Force Harrier GR.9 conducts a combat patrol over Afghanistan, equipped with a laser-designator pod and armed with Paveway guided bombs. | Photo: USAF

[judgemark45]

PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 1, 2020) The forward-deployed amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18), front right, the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) sail in formation. New Orleans, America and Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, are operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Walter Estrada

[usafphantom2]

Aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford will return from mission in defense of Israel

The largest aircraft carrier in the United States returns from the Mediterranean Sea, where it has been parked for almost three months.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/01/2024 - 08:27in Military, War Zones

The U.S. Navy has determined that its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), will return home after a nearly three-month mission to defend Israel in the Middle East.

The USS Gerald Ford has been stationed at a close distance of Israel's attack in the Mediterranean Sea since October, in an effort to prevent the country's war against Hamas from turning into a regional conflict. However, the U.S. Navy states that the ship will begin its journey back home "in the next few days" and will be replaced by the USS Bataan - an amphibious assault ship named after a battle fought in the Philippines during World War II.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world and the latest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the United States. He was already in the Mediterranean - involved in naval exercises with Italy - before receiving orders to provide support to Israel's Defense Forces after the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas.

“Immediately after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was ordered to go to the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin extended Ford's detachment three times in the hope that his presence would dissuade Iran and groups aligned with Iran, especially Hezbollah from Lebanon, from attacking Israel.

The ship, which carried about 5,000 sailors and more than 100 warplanes in eight squadrons, is now returning to its naval base in Virginia. However, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will remain in the Red Sea to face the recent attacks on commercial ships perpetrated by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

“The DoD (Department of Defense) will continue to leverage its posture of collective force in the region to dissuade any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis beyond Gaza,” the Navy said.

At the end of October, a U.S. Navy warship located in the northern Red Sea shot down three cruise missiles along with a batch of drones that were launched from Yemen and appeared to target Israel, the Pentagon said.

Tags: Military Aviationaircraft carrierUSN - United States Navy/U.S. NavyWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[sa7abnews]

Iran beware: US moves these 6 top of the line strike options into position in the Middle East

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/13/iran-beware-us-moves-these-6-top-of-the-line-strike-options-into-position-in-the-middle-east/

Iran beware: US moves these 6 top of the line strike options into position in the Middle East

Hurry up. America’s top shooters are moving into position to target Iran.  With Sunday night’s announcement hastening the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and moving the submarine USS Georgia under U.S. Central Command’s control, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is making sure U.S. Central Command is prepared to attack Iran, and/or its proxies, if Tehran strikes Israel in the next few days.Air Force F-22 fighter jet pilots have already unpacked their bags at a Middle East base where they arrived Aug 8.  Here are more top shooters under Central Command’s operational control – that we know of. It’s very unusual for the Pentagon to make announcements about secretive submarines. But then, the USS Georgia is a very special vessel.  Powered by a nuclear reactor, the USS Georgia began life as an Ohio-class “boomer” designed to carry nuclear weapons, then underwent a high-tech conversion into a conventional guided-missile attack submarine.  Now she can carry an astounding 154 precision Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles.  And SEAL teams with mini-submarines.  Add in a highly advanced communication suite, and USS Georgia can stare down Iran all by herself. US ASSETS DEPLOYED TO MIDEAST WILL HELP ISRAEL BUT WILL UNLIKELY ALTER IRAN’S MIND ON RETALIATION, EXPERTS SAYThe USS Georgia was already on exercises in Europe and is positioning in the Eastern Mediterranean. Her Tomahawk missiles have roughly a 1,000-mile range, which equates to good coverage well into Iran.  The most modern Tomahawks also accept targeting updates while in flight, giving commanders maximum flexibility to act on fresh intelligence. That’s six in the Persian Gulf, and two more in the Red Sea, per a count from the Washington Post on Aug. 2.  Crews from ships like USS Laboon have been whacking Houthi drones, missiles and unmanned boats for months.  The DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers can fire Tomahawks, too, as but the destroyers will have some of their vertical launch tubes loaded with Standard Missiles for air defense across the region, as seen when Iran attacked Israel back in April. Austin ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to speed up its transit from the Pacific to the Middle East, where the USS Theodore Roosevelt is already running sustained flight operations.  Nuclear-powered carriers can charge ahead at 35 knots per hour without slacking off, since they don’t refuel.  The Middle East crisis has compelled Central Command to keep a carrier in the Red Sea area almost non-stop for 10 months and it has required four carriers – Ford, Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Lincoln – to meet the tasking. Moving the Lincoln actually leaves the Navy one carrier short in the Pacific. IRAN IS LIKELY WEIGHING ‘RISK OF FAILURE’ BEFORE POTENTIAL ISRAEL STRIKE: JOSEPH VOTELAustin touted the F-35Cs on the Lincoln by name on Sunday, because these stealthy, carrier-based jets have tremendous radar and other sensor capabilities known to intimidate Iran.  In an unusual twist, it’s a U.S. Marine Corps squadron flying the F-35Cs.  Other Marines fly the F-35B vertical take-off and landing variant with amphibious ships.  But this squadron, the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA 314, trains and flies as part of Carrier Air Wing 9.  (Don’t look so shocked.  Marines flew from carriers in World War II and Korea.)Yes, the very jet flown by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick.”  Carrier Air Wing 11 on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt has three F/A-18E squadrons.  They have been busy day and night with air patrols against Houthi aggression in the Red Sea and doing their part in knocking out Houthi drones, missiles and unmanned boats. This ground-attack variant of the F-15 air superiority fighter is affectionately known as the “Mud Eagle” and has been operating quietly in theater for ages. The F-15Es are true fighter-bombers, and their most experienced pilots have thousands of combat hours from the anti-ISIS war.  The two-seat F-15Es carry air-to-air missiles, a gun and “any nuclear or conventional weapon in the USAF inventory.” Just so you know, Iran.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONAustin’s choice to deploy America’s top of the line strike options serves two purposes. The first, obviously, is to deter Iran and constrain Iran’s tactical options as the mullahs mull their retaliation plans.  But the specific choice of these forces is to provide Central Command with capability for sustained, precision strikes against military targets in Iran or among Iran’s militia groups.Don’t forget that U.S. B-2 bombers can reach any spot on the globe.  Also, B-1 bombers were used by Central Command in attacks on Syrian targets. I would not be surprised to see the B-1s in action again with their joint stand-off missiles.Beyond this, expect Britain, France, regional allies like Jordan, and others to have forces in play.Of course, China is taking note of this firepower display. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued a statement on Saturday supporting Iran’s “dignity” and right to self-defense, whatever that means.  Iran is the center of Mideast terror and China is Iran’s top ally. Gen. Erik Kurilla at U.S. Central Command will soon have all he needs to defend, deter or strike back. As they strive to keep a lid on this crisis, we owe a big debt of gratitude to the American men and women making these crisis deployments in the Middle East. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REBECCA GRANT

[bountyofbeads]

How U.S. Troops Are Preparing for the Worst in the Middle East https://nyti.ms/2ZVJwO1

How U.S. Troops Are Preparing for the Worst in the Middle East

The Pentagon has directed about 4,500 troops to the region atop the roughly 50,000 already there as tensions rise with Iran. They are reinforcing their outposts, bases and airfields.

By Thomas GIBBONS-NEFF | Published

Jan. 6, 2020, 4:33 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 6, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — American military units stationed in Iraq and Syria are readying for attacks from either Iranian forces or their proxies after the drone strike that killed a senior Iranian general last week.

It is unclear what an Iranian retaliatory attack would look like after the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, an Iranian security and intelligence commander responsible for the deaths of hundreds of troops over the years, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a powerful Iraqi militia commander and government official.

But, already, American forces in the region are reinforcing their outposts, bases and airfields.

The Pentagon has directed about 4,500 additional troops to the region atop the roughly 50,000 already there. Here’s how it breaks down.

New Deployments to Iraq and Kuwait

The influx of new forces was prompted by several events: the death of an American contractor in Iraq during a rocket attack on Dec. 27 carried out by an Iranian-backed militia; protests around the United States Embassy in Baghdad afterward, following a series of American airstrikes on the militia; and last week’s drone strike on General Suleimani and Mr. al-Muhandis.

The new troops will act primarily as a defensive force, meant to reinforce American bases and compounds in the region and respond to a possible attack. No major ground offensives are planned for them.

Which Units Are Deploying

Roughly 4,000 troops — a brigade — from the 82nd Airborne Division based out of Fort Bragg, N.C., have started deploying to Kuwait. They are part of the division’s global response force, kept on standby for particular emergencies. A senior United States military officer said the deployment of the 82nd Airborne paratroopers and other ground forces was defensive, meant to position more troops in the Middle East who could be quickly deployed to defend or reinforce American embassies, consulates and military bases.

Roughly 100 other paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based out of Vicenza, Italy, will also deploy to the Middle East, according to a Defense Department official. Stars and Stripes first reported the deployment.

The officer noted that the planning for any larger conflict with Iran does not envision a vast land invasion like in the 1991 Persian Gulf war or the 2003 Iraq war. Instead, any prolonged conflict would rely more on air and naval forces, as well as cyberattacks, to hit Iranian targets or Iranian proxies, the officer said.

Other units include around 100 Marines from the Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment. The company-size contingent is deployed to Kuwait as part of a special purpose task force meant to respond to emergencies in the Middle East. The Marines, fresh off helping American forces withdraw from northeastern Syria, are reinforcing dozens of security personnel positioned at the American Embassy in Baghdad. The compound is large, more than 100 acres, with guard posts, living areas, dining halls and small shops.

Around 100 Army Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment deployed shortly after last week’s drone strike. The Rangers, part of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, most likely will act as a reaction force if any Iranian-backed forces launch a concerted attack on an American position, according to one Defense Department official.

The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit includes roughly 2,200 Marines and sailors, composed of an infantry battalion, logistics unit and a squadron of aircraft, namely transport helicopters and attack jets. They are aboard Navy ships in the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, made up of around 2,000 sailors, and are steaming toward the Middle East as part of a previously scheduled deployment.

These Marine Expeditionary Units have long served as a global response force. Often their deployments in the Persian Gulf have found them supporting operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

The Troops Already in the Region

There are between 45,000 and 65,000 American military personnel — the number can vary by the day — now deployed in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations, including around 5,500 troops in Iraq and 600 in Syria.

In response to Iranian attacks and provocations since May, the Pentagon deployed about 14,000 additional troops to the Persian Gulf region, including roughly 3,500 more to Saudi Arabia. The military assets include early warning aircraft, maritime patrol planes, Patriot air and missile defense batteries, B-52 bombers, a carrier strike group, armed Reaper drones and other engineering and support personnel.

Roughly 2,000 American troops are in Turkey, mostly based at Incirlik Air Base. Despite recent tensions with the fellow NATO country, the United States has continued to use the airfield. American aircraft launched hundreds of combat sorties from the base at the height of the conflict against the Islamic State in 2016 and 2017.

Bahrain is home to the headquarters of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which commands warships patrolling the region.

In Qatar, the sprawling Al Udeid base is home to around 10,000 troops. It is the headquarters for American air operations in the region, and hosts a fleet of midair refueling tankers, along with reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.

WHAT THEY DO

At any given time, the American forces in the region act much like the central nervous system for America’s long wars since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The soldiers, sailors, Marines and aircrew members run key headquarters. They resupply the roughly 12,000 to 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, and launch hundreds of surveillance missions across the region. They train local forces.

And, until Sunday, when the American-led mission in Iraq and Syria halted its campaign against the Islamic State to focus on protecting its forces from potential attack, it battled the militant group to its near demise. Allied nations, such as Canada, also stopped their operations, giving the terrorist group an opportunity to either stage more attacks or at least recuperate.

The number of troops in the region changes substantially depending on the presence of an aircraft carrier strike group (currently the Truman), and whether a large group of Marines is afloat in those waters. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is likely to soon pass through the Mediterranean, according to U.S. Naval Institute’s fleet tracker, and head toward the Red Sea.

The aircraft carrier Truman will be in the region until sometime in February or March, when it will either be replaced or supported by the carrier Eisenhower after it arrives from the Mediterranean.

Aircrews assigned to the Eisenhower already have been briefed on launching potential long-range bombing missions.

_______

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.

*********

The Day After War Begins in Iran

The outpouring of grief for Qassim Suleimani is the country’s first act of retaliation.

By Azadeh Moaveni, Ms. Moaveni is a writer and an analyst with the International Crisis Group | Published

Jan. 6, 2020 | New York Times | Posted January 6, 2020 |

The last time I wrote seriously about a war with Iran was in 2012. It had been an especially fraught year, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards running naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, Israel and the United States conducting joint drills, and the safety of oil shipping lanes looking entirely unassured. Oil prices rattled skittishly, everyone suddenly monitored ships, and headlines speculated that Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

My assignment was to consider “the day after” — to imagine how Iranians would react if their country was bombed by Israel. My piece featured scenes of distraught young people gathering on crowded intersections singing the national anthem — suddenly everyone was a terrified Iranian citizen rather than an aspiring guitarist or a day laborer or whatever they were the day before — and a screaming mother buying formula to stockpile from a supermarket. I don’t even remember writing it. How many times can you write, predict and analyze your country’s destruction before your mind begins to dissolve the traces?

That rehearsal feels like it was all in preparation for today. Last week an American drone strike incinerated Iran’s top general and national war hero Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, along with a senior Iraqi militia commander, in what can only be understood as an act of war.

Being here again makes me feel that I — an American citizen of Iranian origin — have been here so often before. The cycles of imminent war and upheaval Iranians seem destined to face every few years, cycles often driven by the whims of the United States and the increasing boldness of Iran, now feel like a civilizational inheritance, a legacy that my mother bore before me, her mother before her, and that I will pass down to my children. Every Iranian family’s history is touched with this past, in its own way.

The American-backed 1953 coup destroyed both my grandfather and great uncle’s careers, until then in service of the government, and sent the latter into exile. America’s support for, and then eventual abandonment of, the Shah helped shape the 1979 revolution, disrupted all of our lives, with the new authorities expropriating our assets, and landing an uncle in prison for belonging to that educated, pro-Western class that built modern Iran and saw the revolution as its demise.

The years that followed only deepened the American-Iranian chasm. There was the 1979-81 hostage crisis at the American Embassy in Tehran, which killed nobody in the end but poisoned relations to this day. The United States scarcely concealed its support for Iraq in the devastating years of the Iran-Iraq War. And in 1988, as the war dragged to a close, continued skirmishing resulted in the U.S. Navy shooting down an Iranian passenger plane flying over Iran’s territorial waters, killing 290 people. Deeply regrettable, lamented President Ronald Reagan, but honors and medals for the naval officers.

For decades now, the United States has often seemed driven to hurt Iran, at times through interventionist policies that were careless and transactional, and then after 1979, with a fierce determination out of proportion to whatever challenge the new system posed.

At a certain point, Iran started retaliating: In the 1980s, it cultivated regional groups and militias hostile to Washington, and encouraged them to take Westerners hostages and staged attacks through these networks. In later years, Iran challenged American roles in wars in the region and interventions in bordering countries — the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 — by backing nonstate allies that rose to become formidable powers in their own right. This lifted Tehran’s game of asymmetrical leverage into a regional influence it had probably never conceived of achieving. General Suleimani was behind much of this strategy.

Many consider him responsible for the deaths of thousands, for his intervention in salvaging Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria. But to many Iranians, Iraqis, Kurds and others, he was a pivotal figure in vanquishing the Islamic State, helping repel its rapid march across Iraq in 2014. In Syria, for the many Syrians who endured the industrial-scale brutality of the Assad regime, the general led what could only be understood as an offensive force. But Iran’s leaders always reminded their people that Syria, the lone Arab country that sided with Iran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, could not be abandoned, that without it, Iran would be vastly more vulnerable in the region.

It is for these maneuvers, in part to provide Iran some deterrence against relentless American hostility, that General Suleimani is remembered. He had become a patriarch for an ambivalent country adrift, forgiven, at least by the hundreds of thousands who turned out for his funeral, for the hard excesses of the force he commanded because he secured the land in a time of the Islamic State’s butchery, seen as a man of honor and merit among political contemporaries who were usually neither. (Of course, he certainly did not impress all Iranians in this way; he had detractors who did not support his regional stratagems.)

Iran’s leaders have rallied around his legacy; Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “severe revenge” and assured that his killing would “double” resistance against the United States and Israel. Even the reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, an octogenarian who is confined under permanent house arrest, issued condolences.

Beyond this official show of unity, newspapers across the political spectrum darkened their front pages, and ran full-cover photos of General Suleimani in all his guises, from brassy military uniform to slick dark suit jacket, with even the most liberal-minded running lachrymose headlines like “the sorrow is inconceivable.”

“What to do with a thorn lodged in the heart? Is this the fate of all the distinguished descendants of this land, regardless of thought and affiliation?” wrote Iran’s most prominent and oft-censored contemporary novelist, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, of the man he said “built a powerful dam against the bloodthirsty onslaught of ISIS and secured our borders from their calamity.”

Iranians have turned out to mourn him on an extraordinary scale, in scenes unmatched since the funeral of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini himself in 1989. A sea of people fills Isfahan’s 17th Century central square, the seat of Persian history, and pours across the bridges and streets of Ahvaz, men and women from all backgrounds of Iranian society.

The mourning for the general, it could be said, is Iran’s first act of retaliation: what amounts to an extraordinary four-day state funeral in not one but two countries. The cavalcade has twinned two nations in shared public grief and indignation, as the procession moved deliberately across a crescent of Shiite historical memory. First came the cities of the Iraqi south that Saddam Hussein kept cowed and squalid, the holy shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, through to the Iranian province of Khuzestan, which saw the bloodiest fighting of the Iran-Iraq war, an indigenously Arab region where mourning congregations chant in Arabic, and whose inclusion in this spectacle of transnational identity and power has clear unifying purpose.

Nearly 40 years ago, General Suleimani began his career in the trenches of the Iran-Iraq War, the formative drama of the Islamic Republic, where heroism was applauded by most Iranians who felt their country was the victim of external attack and isolation. Today’s Iranians, who will most suffer whatever fallout there is from his death, remain economically blockaded, in a suspended state of siege in all but name. Their country remains, by the design of American policy, sanctioned and cash-strapped, their horizons and potential extinguished by visa bans, medicine shortages and inflation. Pinned between a system that increasingly feels it has little to lose, and the all-out vengeance of a zero-plan United States, Iran has endured what feels like a war economy for decades.

I remember as a child, during the years of war with Iraq, my mother telling me about relatives in Iran who gave away their jewelry to aid the war effort. This time, in the face of President Trump’s tweets threatening to attack Iran and destroy its sites of cultural heritage, I needn’t conjure the unity that comes the day after. The country has gathered to mourn. It is already here.

______

Azadeh Moaveni (@AzadehMoaveni) is a senior gender analyst with the International Crisis Group and the author, most recently, of “Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS.”

*********

[rjbailey]

201020-N-IO312-1419 by U.S. Pacific Fleet Via Flickr: PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 20, 2020) F-35 Lightning II aircraft assigned to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force conduct integrated air operations with the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6). America, lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group and assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Cavenaile)

[mhirtzsr]

170205-N-XT039-023 by U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos Via Flickr: 170205-N-XT039-023 PHILIPPINE SEA (Feb. 5, 2017) An AV-8B Harrier, assigned to the Tomcats of Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 311, lands aboard amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Bonhomme Richard is conducting unit-level training to ensure warfighting readiness in preparation for a routine patrol in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jesse Marquez Magallanes/Released) www.dvidshub.net

[photoyage]

A set of MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft fly in formation above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Sydney, Australia, June 29, 2017. The MV-22Bs belong to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265 (Reinforced). VMM-265 (Rein.) is part of the Aviation Combat Element of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The 31st MEU and the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group arrived in Sydney after transiting south across the vast Pacific Ocean, from Okinawa, Japan, to southeastern Australia in just over three weeks. Sydney is a favorite port stop for both Marines and Sailors crossing the Pacific. The 31st MEU partners with the Navy’s Amphibious Squadron 11 to form the amphibious component of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group. The 31st MEU and PHIBRON 11 combine to provide a cohesive blue-green team capable of accomplishing a variety of missions across the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Amy Phan/Released)