US fighter jets fly over Kabul to secure evacuations
Fox News,
by
Brooke Singman
,
Jennifer Griffin
&
Lucas Y Tomlinson
Original Article
Posted By: DVC,
8/19/2021 2:04:11 PM
The Pentagon said Thursday that the U.S. has been conducting armed "overwatch" flights over Kabul in the last 24 hours as an "added layer of force" to ensure the security of the U.S. mission to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies from the country after the Taliban takeover.
Department of Defense officials denied that the flights were a "show of force" or a prelude to airstrikes on Kabul.
Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor on Thursday said Pentagon officials "continue to recognize the inherent danger of operating in this environment," maintaining, though, that U.S. troops are remaining "agile, professional, and are postured to continue the mission, and to respond if required."
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 8/19/2021 2:06:04 PM (No. 885182)
I tried multiple times to put breaks in the headline....but they were erased in the preview. Replacing them got them erased again, so I gave up.
1 person likes this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 8/19/2021 2:07:53 PM (No. 885184)
Not very effective unless they're dropping bombs.
11 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
marbles 8/19/2021 2:10:45 PM (No. 885186)
Getting bad press, someone said send out fighters. Optics, always optics with the left
12 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
smokincol 8/19/2021 2:11:04 PM (No. 885189)
the taliban are on the ground, the jets are in the air (and probably not armed) so who has the advantage here? another milley / austin blunder of epic proportions.
what were they teaching at West Point when these tow idiots attended, I wonder? it sure as hell wasn't military tactics or if it was these two morons were asleep in class.
8 people like this.
Strict orders to not fire at anyone, ever…for any reason!!! Per our dear leader Joe Naptime Biden!
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JayD 8/19/2021 2:21:17 PM (No. 885203)
If we hadn't abandoned the Bagram air base this would be much simpler, less expensive, and probably more effective.
9 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
TLCary 8/19/2021 2:33:50 PM (No. 885217)
“A show of farce”. We don’t need to remind them that we have everything by leadership with the WILL to save the Americans they left behind.
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Mizz Fixxit 8/19/2021 2:33:52 PM (No. 885218)
Agree with all posts here. Regarding Post 3, yes, “always optics with the left,” not about being good, but looking good. And, of course, if a liberal thinks he looks good, he feels good.
1 person likes this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
hershey 8/19/2021 2:40:46 PM (No. 885228)
So if the Taliban have the airfield were are they landing to refuel? Just wondering....if they have to fly any distance their 'overwatch' time would be limited...
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Birddog 8/19/2021 2:51:03 PM (No. 885242)
Ya righhhht...we are gonna see Mel Gibson(australian) and Sam Elliott radio "Broken Arrow! Broken Arrow!" and call for napalm drops "Danger close" on the airport perimeters?... there is NOTHING aircover can do right now except retaliate in areas already flooded with more civilians than Taliban. No one is going to carpet Bomb a city of 4 Million, Aircover works to cover open ground, not dense urban areas.
The time for aircover was BEFORE the Taliban held the city, stopping them at the perimeters when there was still at least SOME Afghan forces to "cover". and some separation from the general population.
Milley and Miller both have said.."Under the forces we were allowed we could only hold two places of the three choices...we gave up Bagram(the most secure and robust US facility in the entire middle east) because CIC wanted to maintain the embassy instead". An indefensible embassy that was nearly immediately closed, evacuated, and abandoned for the tenuous HKIA as the sole location once the Taliban arrived to Kabul..
Trump has stated that he thought the embassy was ridiculous, in costs, design, location, function, and under his withdrawal plan was to be closed 1st, while all military assets and air-cover would be the very LAST of people to leave.
Instead Biden ordered the draw down of Military people to the point where there were MORE US Media reporters, producers, camera people and sound technicians left in the country than Military personnel.
2 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
anniebc 8/19/2021 2:54:02 PM (No. 885248)
Who's flying the jets?
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 8/19/2021 2:55:31 PM (No. 885251)
Re. #9:
F-18s are USN aircraft, so likely o0perating from a aircraft carrier. And they have air-to-air refueling capability, can stay airborne with tanker support for very long periods.
Rules of Engagement (ROEs) are the issue. If ROEs are tight, they are useless, can't do anything except as someone pointed out, "look good". And "optics" is the branch of physics where they study the reflection and refraction and diffusion of light. "Appearances" and "theatrics" are what politicians do.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
mifla 8/19/2021 3:00:46 PM (No. 885262)
And as they fly over, the Taliban give them the finger, since they know America will do nothing.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Phantomll 8/19/2021 3:05:57 PM (No. 885270)
Kudos on your comments, OP. The meaningless term "fighter jets" drives me bonkers! I've been ranting about it for years.
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 8/19/2021 3:10:11 PM (No. 885280)
Boots on the ground, gunships, A10's, or AC130's might do something to secure evacuation, but not fighter aircraft.
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 8/19/2021 3:15:00 PM (No. 885288)
Re #11. If they are US aircraft, which is apparently the case, and are, in fact, F-18s, that means that they are USN or USMC aircraft, would be flown by US naval aviators or Marine aviators.
We have sold F-18s to Australia and a few other countries, but they would have extreme difficulty getting their aircraft to this location, so almost certainly these are US aircraft flying off of a US aircraft carrier, and most likely supported by air tanker assets flying out of Quatar or somewhere near there. The US aircraft carriers also have their own air tanker assets.
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 8/19/2021 3:16:48 PM (No. 885295)
How many are those fighter jets able to pick up?
2 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
SkeezerMcGee 8/19/2021 3:19:49 PM (No. 885300)
Milley has a BA in political science from Princeton and a Masters from Colunbia U. and from the Naval War College.
Taylor graduated from Baylor Univ.
1 person likes this.
So the military is going to put on an airshow for the Tallybon, too? Will there be colored smoke and aerobatics for their entertainment?
5 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
planetgeo 8/19/2021 3:47:10 PM (No. 885325)
This is ridiculous. Those jets can be of absolutely no use now except possibly for the halftime flyover show at the soccer stadium for the stoning of the rape victims.
7 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
PostAway 8/19/2021 5:48:24 PM (No. 885435)
The U.S. military hasn’t looked this pathetic in ….well….never. But we did come close when another Democrat loon decided a sandstorm would be a dandy time to send rescue helicopters, some in need of serious operational repairs, across a desert. We lost 8 servicemen in that one plus a refueling plane but at least Jimmy Carter was up for re-election within 7 months and even he at least said, “Oops!” I’d be tempted to wish pancreatic cancer on Biden (brain cancer is impossible in his case) but Jimmy’s had it for years and he’s still with us. I don’t mean to offend but this country may not survive this debacle let alone another 3 1/2 years of it.
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
anniebc 8/19/2021 9:30:56 PM (No. 885646)
I was being flippant, poster 11,16.
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Italiano 8/19/2021 9:35:43 PM (No. 885648)
That'll show 'em. We're serious now.
1 person likes this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
mifla 8/21/2021 6:54:36 AM (No. 887145)
And the marines guarding the embassy had no ammunition.
1 person likes this.
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Comments:
Unfortunately, I bet their ROEs are not much different than not being there or not being armed at all.
Enough with the faux British affectation of "fighter jets". For my whole life in the USA, we call them "fighters" or back when it was possible that there might be prop driven fighters, "jet fighters". ALL fighter aircraft have been jet powered for about 60 years. Stop with the 'fighter jets' foolishness. Just "fighers" or if you must, "figher aircraft".