The US is reportedly sending a group of F-16CJ Vipers fitted with the novel Angry Kitten pod for the first time towards the Middle East. The Angry Kitten pod is a new electronic warfare system that can help defend against anti-air threats, and this could potentially be their first use in real combat.
The F-16 Vipers are tasked with neutralising enemy air defences and were seen landing at Lajes on the island of Terceira in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, on February 17. They left the next day towards the Middle East, according to The War Zone. They were accompanied by at least one KC-46A Pegasus tanker. The deployment has assumed significance as officials and military watchers say an attack on Iran is imminent at any time.
Meanwhile, aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, its embarked airwing and elements of its carrier strike group (CSG) are now in the western Mediterranean. The Ford and the USS Mahan, one of its Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer escorts, transited the Strait of Gibraltar around afternoon on Friday, eyewitnesses told The War Zone.
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A Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol jet was also seen flying overhead. The P-8 is packed with sensors and is used to detect potential threats on and under the water’s surface. The U.S. Navy vessels were accompanied by at least one Spanish Navy Santa Maria class frigate.
While Ford‘s location put it about 2,500 miles east of the Israeli coast, it could take a few more days to arrive there. Stationing patrolling there would help Israel defend against incoming barrages, but the fighter jets would have to fly across Israel or Lebanon, Syria or Jordan, and Iraq, to reach Iranian territory.
