A dozen F-22 fighters left Joint Base Langley-Fort Eustis left last week, bound for U.S. Central Command - the military region involved in the bombing in Iran over the weekend, according to several reports.
The Pentagon hasn’t named which units were part of the campaign, but fifth-generation fighters - which includes the F-22 - flew ahead of American B-2 bombers flown from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
Codenamed Midnight Hammer, the operation included 125 U.S. military aircraft. They struck the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities inside Iran, causing “extremely severe damage and destruction,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, during a briefing Sunday.
The USS Ford and its strike group leave Norfolk Tuesday, bound for the Mediterranean. This is the aircraft carrier’s regularly scheduled deployment but they become part of a build up of naval forces in the Middle East region.
The carrier joins USS Nimitz, which is already in the region. Nimitz is on what is expected to be the ship’s last deployment before moving to Norfolk next year, where it is scheduled to begin the decommissioning process at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. The USS Vinson carrier strike group is also in the region.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Sunday warning that the bombings have created a heightened threat level inside the United States. DHS warns of potential cyber attacks by hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors on networks, along with potential violent extremists mobilizing inside the country.
In Congress, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine is among a group of lawmakers calling on Congress to vote on whether or not the U.S. should go to war with Iran.
“It’s unconstitutional for a president to initiate a war like this without Congress. Every member of Congress needs to vote on this,” Kaine told Fox News.
