US affirms commitment to working together with partners in Middle East

TDT | Manama   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Julia Cassano

US Air Force Lt. General Grynkewich yesterday discussed in an online briefing air operations and coordination in the Middle East, providing insight into recent Russian aggression against American forces in Syria.

The briefing highlighted the work the US and its partnered nations have taken to deter Iran and its proxies, which can only be accomplished by all partnered states working together to mutually develop capabilities.

Lt. Grynkewich underscored a recent Bomber Task Force mission, which transpired on June 8, intended by the US side to demonstrate its commitment to its partners and showcase the US’s ability to bring in overwhelming combat power at a moment’s notice.

Reiterating the significance of the mission, the CENTCOM Air Force commander said: "These types of weapons and equipment come from long distances such as Europe, the Pacific, and even the US, arriving in a matter of hours."

This is crucial from a deterrence perspective and assures partners that the US can bring in overwhelming power very quickly. The Bomber Task Force Mission was not completed solely by the US; however, other regional partners flew in escort missions.

He said for the first time in training live GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions as well as a live AGM-158A Joint Airto-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), a long-range weapon was employed.

Being a first for the region for the Bomber Task Force, he pointed out that this could not have transpired without the help of its partners. The commander also discussed the recent employment of F-22 Raptors, the most advanced air superiority in the world, in the US’s area of responsibility.

"This is part of a multi-faceted show of US support in the wake of increasingly unsafe and unprofessional behaviour by Russian aircraft operating in Syria."

The US and its partners found that Russian air forces in Syria increased their "unprofessional behaviour,", flying in a more assertive manner against the US. With that being said, Lt.Grynkewich said it was necessary to change the US’s defensive measures currently being taken.

Lastly, he reviewed Task Force 99, a combined Task Force headquartered in Qatar that includes five nations with full-time committed personnel. It also contains a growing fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, which the US looks forward to using in operations here in the region to find difficult targets on the ground and for other purposes.

"Using Task Force 99 is a crucial step to increasing awareness of the air domain in the region, as it provides fantastic opportunities to impose dilemmas and give our adversaries difficult problems to solve," the commander said.

Concern about Russian forces in prohibited airspace

Lt. General Grynkewich highlighted his concerns in terms of Russian incidents when he noted an incident that occurred yesterday morning (Syrian time) where a Russian aircraft travelled into US airspace.

Continuing, he said that this was not an isolated incident. "This is an intentional pattern of Russian activity and has had as many as three or four times where the Russians would enter prohibited airspace." This distracts our mission to ultimately defeat ISIS, as ISIS continues to have the capability, where Russian forces are incapable or unwilling to put pressure on ISIS," he said.

Saudi Arabia and Iran

Touching base on the recent reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the commander recognised it as a positive, as countries having diplomatic relations diffuse tension in the region.