Article

2011-12-02 Arabia

US offers 'bunker busters' to UAE over Iran threat

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Posted by tipper 2011-12-02 00:56|| || Front Page|| [10 views ] Top

#1 So how many first line aircraft does the UAE have, along with first line pilots? Air refueling capability? Air defense in case the stuff comes in instead of going out?
Maybe this is a face-saving way of pre-positioning munitions on UAE airfields in case any of the big boys need a refill.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2011-12-02 10:06|| 2011-12-02 10:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Aircraft include 54 F-16/Es and 25 F-16/Fs, plus a couple dozen Dassault multirole fighters.

Air refueling? UAE's right across the Straits of Hormuz from Iran. If they were based just north, in Qatar, I *think* they could make it to Qom and back. Don't know about Qom from UAE, but definitely Bushehr.

Air defense? UAE as well as Bahrain and Qatar has kindly hosted a US military presence for some time. It's fair to expect it would be a protected air space.

Posted by lotp 2011-12-02 10:36|| 2011-12-02 10:36|| Front Page Top

#3 They're F-16's with the new conformal fuel tanks on the backbones. So they are probably fairly long ranged.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-12-02 14:10|| 2011-12-02 14:10|| Front Page Top

#4 These are the 2000# bunker busters, I think. They should be able to be delivered by an F-16, I would think. One with one of those cool new extra fuel tanks. But it seems to me that they would be much smaller than they would need against Iran, who is the only on they probably need to worry about.

Posted by gorb 2011-12-02 14:28|| 2011-12-02 14:28|| Front Page Top

#5 Thanks, Snowy.

Posted by lotp 2011-12-02 14:32|| 2011-12-02 14:32|| Front Page Top

#6 Maybe these bunker busters are smaller than they should be. But what would happen if the same exact spot were hit 5 times in a row by these lightweights? I expect the hole would get very deep very quickly.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-12-02 14:34|| 2011-12-02 14:34|| Front Page Top

#7 Good news, guys, about the equipment. I think I'd still be interested in the quality of the aircrew. Unless they were trained in the US/UK.
Read a cross-cultural manual many years ago, by the USAF since they had to do it and make it work as opposed to the nearest anthro dept, and they had many cautions about working with guys from the Arab culture. Not that they were necessarily substandard material but that they were difficult to train due to different world views. A marginal difference, though.
On the other hand, those little oil spots could afford to pay ex-military F16 pilots a pretty decent per diem.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2011-12-02 14:42|| 2011-12-02 14:42|| Front Page Top

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