An innocuous-seeming US Air Force press release. A serendipitous
satellite image in Google Earth. Snapshots from a photographer on
assignment at a Spanish air base. The crash of an Air Force F-15E
Strike Eagle fighter-bomber in the United Arab Emirates. These are
some of the fragments of information that Italian aviation blogger
David Cenciotti has assembled to reveal the best picture yet of the
Pentagon's secretive war in the Arabian Peninsula and East
Africa.
In a series of blog posts over the two weeks since 11 May,
Cenciotti has described
in unprecedented detail the powerful aerial force helping
wage Washington's hush-hush campaign of air strikes, naval
bombardments and commando raids along the western edge of the
Indian Ocean, including terror hot spots Yemen and Somalia.
Cenciotti outlined the deployment of eight F-15Es from their home
base in Idaho to the international air and naval outpost at Camp
Lemonnier in Djibouti, north of Somalia.
Over the years there have been hints of the F-15s' presence in
East Africa, but "their actual mission remains a (sort-of)
mystery," Cenciotti writes. Based on the evidence, he proposes that
the twin-seat fighter-bombers -- one of the Air Force's mainstay
weapon systems in Afghanistan -- are dropping bombs on
al-Qaida-affiliated militants in Yemen. If true, that means the US
intervention in the western Indian Ocean is far more forceful, and
risky, than previously suggested.
Ten years ago the Air Force openly acknowledged the initial
F-15E rotation in Djibouti, but since then the flying branch has
released few details. New official information
on the Indian Ocean aerial armada has emerged only after airplanes
crashed. An accident involving an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone in
the Seychelles late 2011 forced the Pentagon to admit it
was building
a drone base on the island nation. Reporters followed the
Seychelles lead to uncover additional Reaper bases in Yemen and
Ethiopia. Armed drones operated by the CIA and the military have
killed scores of militants in Somalia and Yemen under steadily
loosening rules of engagement.
Similarly, the deaths of four American airmen in a crash in
Djibouti in February 2012 confirmed the involvement of the
secretive U-28 spy plane in the escalating
intervention.
The F-15Es carry more bombs and fly much faster than the
Cessna-size, propeller-driven Reapers. Where the long-endurance
drones are persistent and patient, the twin-engine Strike Eagles
are fast-reacting and powerful. "When you need to quickly reach a
distant target and hit it with a considerable payload, you might
find a Strike Eagle a better platform," Cenciotti explains. On the
other hand, "air strikes with conventional planes are considered
less respectful of the local nation's sovereignty than drones'
attacks," he adds. "This could be the reason for keeping the
eventual F-15E involvement in the area a bit confidential."
Again, it was a crash that helped draw reporters' attention to
the F-15s in Djibouti. In early May 2012 a photographer friend of
Cenciotti photographed
several Strike Eagles passing through Spain's Moron air
base en route to an unspecified deployed location. One of
the F-15s crashed near its next layover in the United Arab
Emirates (the two crew members ejected safely). Cenciotti
scrutinized the aircraft involved and matched them up with a
Pentagon press release describing a change-of-command
ceremony for a fighter squadron in Djibouti.
An image from Google Maps showing six F-15s on the ground in
Djibouti helped confirm Cenciotti's theory that Strike Eagles are
active in the Indian Ocean region. Evidence the jets are bombing
Yemen is more circumstantial: Cenciotti notes that the pro-US
Yemeni air force was on strike at the time of one widely reported
air raid in the country, meaning another nation was likely
responsible for the hit.
The 37-year-old Cenciotti rivals ace Aviation
Week reporter Bill Sweetman for breaking news about
military aircraft. But his strict focus on aviation means he misses
other compelling evidence of the US shadow war in East Africa and
the Arabian Peninsula.
The Navy maintains around 30 warships in the Indian Ocean
as part of several international task forces. American destroyers
have launched missiles and
fired guns at terrorists in Somalia and Yemen.
But arguably the most interesting vessels in the area are also
the least flashy. Lewis and Clark-class supply ships,
normally used to carry fuel and cargo, have also been used as
Afloat Forward Staging Bases -- in essence, seaborne
military camps for housing Special Forces and launching helicopters
and small boats. The ships can be configured with makeshift jails
for holding captured pirates and, in theory, terror suspects.
The Lewis and Clark class ship Carl
Brashear visited Djibouti in early May 2012,
according to a military press release. Where the ship went next -
and what exactly she did there -- is unclear. But if Cenciotti's
investigation of the F-15s is any indication, there could be a
surprising truth beneath the layers of official secrecy concealing
America's underreported Indian Ocean shadow war.
Source: Wired.com
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