Armada Of USAF Tankers Just Deployed East Over Atlantic Spurring Speculation

[douglas9]

Over two dozen U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers from across the United States appeared on flight-tracking software yesterday evening, taking off from their bases and heading east over the Atlantic. It isn’t clear if they were ‘dragging’ any combat aircraft with them, but there wasn’t any obvious signs of that.

While tanker movements in this direction are far from abnormal, such a large, near-simultaneous migration of the jets was very peculiar, especially at a time of extreme crisis in the Middle East. The exact reason for the mass deployment is unclear, although many of the potential answers would indicate a change, or preparations for a potential change, in the current conflict between Israel and Iran.

Open-source enthusiasts took to social media after all the tankers began popping up on flight tracking software. At its peak, it appeared that at least 28 tankers were all heading east. While there is a multinational exercise in Norway that is about to kick off, that wouldn’t require anything like this level of relocation of refueling assets. There is no other apparent exercise or commitment that would necessitate such an operation. On the other hand, these are precisely the assets that would be needed if the United States were going to change its support of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, or if there were urgent concerns that the conflict is about to widen significantly.

https://www.twz.com/air/armada-of-usaf-tankers-just-deployed-east-over-atlantic-spurring-speculation