US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Ignacio D. Perez/Released
President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that US missiles are coming to strike Syria, despite Russia’s threats to shoot down incoming US missiles and even the platforms that fire them.
The US has struck Syria before, using cruise missiles from two US Navy guided-missile destroyers in the Mediterranean, but experts now say the US will have to go bigger to make an impact on Syria’s forces under Russian protection.
With no aircraft carriers currently in the region, a heavy Russian naval presence in the region, and only 2,000 or so US troops on the ground in Syria, it may seem like the US is outnumbered or outgunned.
In reality, the US has massive airpower in the region which far overpowers anything else nearby.
With the US Air Force presences in Qatar, Jordan, and Turkey, as well as forces on the ground, the US has a multitude of options for carrying out a strike in Syria, despite a heavy Russian presence and advanced missile defenses.
Take a look at the US’s firepower in the region:
Here’s the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the aircraft carrier that just left the region. It has aircraft for logistics, air-to-air, air-to-ground, intelligence and surveillance, early-warning, and antisubmarine warfare. It’s one of 11 US aircraft carriers, and as it stands it could make it back to the region within one week at full steam.
Jackie Hart/US Navy
Here’s a loaded F/A-18E. This one has an air-to-ground heavy load out, but still carries air-to-air missiles in case an enemy aircraft attacks the US or US-backed forces, as was the case when an F/A-18E had to shoot down a Syrian Su-22.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matt Matlage
The crew can launch one of these every two minutes or so. F/A-18Es off the US aircraft carriers can fly thousands of sorties, or missions, during a single deployment.
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher Gaines
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- Trump is warning Russia to get ready for a US missile strike on Syria — here’s what’s happened over 7 years of conflict
- Trump tells Russia to get ready for a US missile strike on Syria — and it could bring all-out war
- Here’s every class of ship in the US Navy
SEE ALSO: Trump warned Russia that a missile strike on Syria is coming — here’s how it could go down
