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DoD keeps Raptors out of Persian Gulf

Air Force plans to deploy F-22s to the Persian Gulf region earlier this year were vetoed by senior Pentagon officials, in part to avoid antagonizing Iran, sources said.

The officials believed deploying the Raptor so near Iran would cause a “strategic dislocation” in the region, sources said.

The debate was one of a series of feuds between the Pentagon and service leaders that included the future of the F-22 program and ended with the dismissal of Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley.

The two men were sacked June 5 after a report blasted the Air Force for its stewardship of the service’s nuclear arsenal.

The Air Force leaders wanted to deploy the new superfighter to gain operational experience and refine concepts of operations for the jet.

Since the plane entered service three years ago, it has served as an airborne early warning, ground surveillance and strike platform.

But it would have done even more in a gulf deployment, some say.

“Because the U.S. needs to work a transition strategy in Iraq, it is important to connect our air and naval assets to the broader efforts for defense and security in the region,” said Robbin Laird, analyst with Paris- and Washington-based ICSA.

Laird said putting the Raptor in the region would serve three purposes:

* Evolving the aircraft’s air battle management capabilities.

* Operationally introducing the new plane to allies.

* Striking insurgent cells.

“I really believe that folks don’t know what [the Air Force] is evolving here,” Laird said. “Most people think that they’re just using the aircraft in the traditional sense, and they’re not. I don’t think the Air Force has done a great job of explaining this, but it’s only been in deployment for three years.”

But to top Pentagon leaders, sending the plane into the Iraq fight was overkill.

Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute agreed, saying the F-22 is ill-suited to counterinsurgency operations in Iraq.

“Most of what the F-22 brings isn’t useful to fighting insurgents,” Thompson said. “It’s a wonderful plane but for certain types of threats.”

A Defense Department spokesman could not confirm F-22 deployment deliberations.