USA sent 12 more fighter jets to the Middle East

The United States on Thursday, April 23, dispatched an additional squadron of 12 Marine Corps F/A-18C/D fighters to the Middle East region to reinforce the air group deployed there.

This was reported by the aviation resource Military Air Tracking Alliance (MATA).

On Thursday morning, they departed from the Portuguese Lajes Air Base in the Azores, where they had been temporarily stationed after arriving from the continental United States.

According to the aviation resource Flightradar24, the fighters, having passed Gibraltar, are currently flying over the Mediterranean Sea accompanied by eight American aerial refueling tankers. The exact location of their upcoming deployment in the Middle East is unknown.

The American tactical aviation group in the Middle East already numbers around 300 combat aircraft. The largest concentration is at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, where numerous squadrons of American fighters are stationed, including F-35As, F-15Es, F-16s, as well as squadrons of A-10 attack aircraft. In addition, American combat aircraft are also deployed at Ovda Air Base in Israel, Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, as well as on two aircraft carriers located in the Arabian and Red Seas.

Furthermore, 23 strategic bombers are stationed at RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, including 15 B-1B Spirit aircraft and eight B-52H Stratofortress aircraft, which during the American military operation actively participated in striking critical targets in Iran.