From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Amid Iran tensions, US announces multi-day aerial exercise in Middle East
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Amid the ongoing tensions with Iran, the United States Central Command announces that it is conducting an aerial exercise in the Middle East.
The Ninth Air Force — also known as Air Forces Central (AFCENT) — the air component in CENTCOM, will be conducting a “multi-day readiness exercise to demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower across the US Central Command area of responsibility,” AFCENT says.
“This exercise is designed to enhance asset and personnel dispersal capability, strengthen regional partnerships and prepare for flexible response execution throughout CENTCOM. It will serve as a way for AFCENT to validate procedures for rapid movement of personnel and aircraft; dispersed operations at contingency locations; logistics sustainment with a minimal footprint; and integrated, multi-national command and control over a large area of operations,” a statement reads.
AFCENT says that during the drill, US forces will “deploy teams to multiple contingency locations and validate rapid set-up, launch and recovery procedures with small, efficient support packages,” adding that it will “conduct all activities with host-nation approval and in close coordination with civil and military aviation authorities, emphasizing safety, precision and respect for sovereignty.”
The drill comes a day after CENTCOM announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships had arrived in the Middle East.
The arrival of the carrier strike group boosts the US’s available firepower and defensive capabilities in the region, giving US President Donald Trump the option to launch an attack on Iran against the backdrop of the regime’s killing of protesters.
U.S. Air Forces Central will be conducting a multi-day readiness exercise to demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
Read more: https://t.co/F4rRENnVGD pic.twitter.com/ny80gdjuQU
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 27, 2026
The Times of Israel Community.