{"id":82329,"date":"2021-11-08T01:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T01:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/11\/08\/with-afghanistan-off-limits-us-hunts-for-safe-airspace-as-mideast-mission-continues\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:14:10","slug":"with-afghanistan-off-limits-us-hunts-for-safe-airspace-as-mideast-mission-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/11\/08\/with-afghanistan-off-limits-us-hunts-for-safe-airspace-as-mideast-mission-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"With Afghanistan off-limits, US hunts for safe airspace as Mideast mission continues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Air Force has now been in the Middle East for more than three decades. Even the end of the Afghanistan War isn\u2019t likely to mean a major drawdown from the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Air Force has adjusted its posture \u2014 for example, bringing home its EC-130H Compass Call<\/a> electronic warfare planes for the first time in 20 years \u2014 retired Gen. Herbert \u201cHawk\u201d Carlisle does not expect a radical rebalancing of air power assets in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will change, but \u2026 it may not be as draconian or as significant as some people may think,\u201d Carlisle, the former head of Air Combat Command who is now chief executive of the National Defense Industrial Association, said in an Oct. 21 interview with Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Air Forces Central Command did not respond to questions by press time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Venable, a former Air Force fighter pilot and defense policy expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he suspects the U.S. will pull back some other strategic platforms \u2014 such as the RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance airplanes \u2014 and only moved back in response to an emerging threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many regional challenges remain that will keep the Air Force from making drastic changes, Carlisle said. Some mission sets might change, he explained, but the chances of fighter, tanker or mobility aircraft units coming home from air bases like Incirlik in Turkey or Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates are slim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the Air Force probably isn\u2019t done with Afghanistan. Militant organizations such as the Islamic State group\u2019s local branch, ISIS-Khorasan, and al-Qaida are still present there. The Biden administration has repeatedly stressed it plans to conduct so-called over-the-horizon airstrikes if terrorists pose a threat to the U.S., which will require a continued Air Force presence \u2014 including fighters or bombers to carry out strikes; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft; drones; and other support aircraft and functions such as tankers.<\/p>\n\n\n\t