The airbase
on Diego Garcia, part
of America's sprawling military outpost in British Indian Ocean Territory, was once a bustling hub of bomber and tanker
activity during the years that followed the beginning of Operation Enduring
Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unbelievably, for years the U.S. the Air
Force flew thousands of sorties from the remote locale some located 2,000 miles
from Afghanistan and 3,000 miles from Iraq in what had to of been one of the
most boneheadedly inefficient air combat operations of all time. Eventually,
they realized basing these aircraft in the Persian Gulf, far closer to the
action, would provide way more persistent combat capabilities, save lakes of
jet fuel, and preserve precious flight time on America's aging bomber fleet.
Now, after its aprons stood largely empty aside from the regular logistical and
sporadic global airpower flights, American bombers are heading back to the
atoll, and for good reason—it's out of reach of Iranian ballistic
missiles.
Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia
The move comes as part of the continued build-up
of U.S. forces in the Middle East and increasingly dire
rhetoric between Washington D.C. and Tehran following the deadly strike on Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem
Soleimani last week.
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