The U.S. military is sending more fighter jets to the Middle East to step up its war with Iran, adding to what is already the largest buildup of airpower in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. For now, the operation shows little sign of coming to a quick conclusion.
“This work is just beginning and will continue,” Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon on March 2 as Operation Epic Fury, as America’s campaign against Iran is called, continued into its third day.
Administration officials said knocking out Iran’s missiles, navy, and residual nuclear facilities are key objectives. “Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO,” U.S. Central Command wrote in a social media post March 2, one day after President Donald Trump said the U.S. had sunk nine Iranian ships. American officials have indicated that regime change would be welcome, but they do not consider it a requirement for the operation’s success. The Trump administration said its effort to destroy Iran’s missiles was vital to deter attacks if Iran resumed its nuclear efforts.
The Pentagon said it is adding to its forces even as it has declared the opening days of the conflict a success, with Caine saying the U.S. achieved “local air superiority.” The Israeli Air Force, which is operating a different but parallel campaign against Iran, has offered a similar assessment of the air picture.
“The flow of forces continues today,” Caine said. “We have more tactical aviation flowing into theater.”
On March 2, seven F-15E Strike Eagles took off from RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and headed to the Middle East, where they had been stationed as a stopover point en route to the Middle East from bases in the U.S.—six from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and one from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
The aircraft were seen taking off from the base in England by local aircraft spotters. Aerial refueling tankers accompanying the aircraft were visible on flight-tracking services heading toward the Middle East. Local photographer Harry Moulton shared photos with Air & Space Forces Magazine of the F-15Es taking off from Lakenheath on March 2.
The press office for U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Caine said the U.S. has deployed thousands of service members, “hundreds of advanced fourth- and fifth-generation fighters” and “dozens of refueling tankers” as well as the Lincoln and Ford Carrier Strike Groups and their embarked air wings, and other aircraft.
“We’re just about where we want to be in terms of total combat capacity and total combat power,” Caine said.
The U.S. continued its long-range bombing campaign overnight, striking Iranian ballistic missile facilities with B-1B Lancer bombers, U.S. Central Command announced March 2. Three bombers took part in the mission, according to air traffic control communications and open-source information. The B-1 mission marked the second straight day the U.S. conducted a long-range bombing mission into Iran after B-2 Spirit stealth bombers attacked Iranian ballistic missile facilities.
The long-range bombing missions, flying from bases in the United States before striking Iran and returning home, can take up to 37 hours and have been required because the U.K. refused to allow the U.S. to use its bases in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and at RAF Fairford in England to conduct them. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now reversed course, U.K. officials said, and will allow the U.S. to use those bases to conduct bombing missions, which would cut flight times roughly in half and significantly reduce the workload on U.S. tankers. The announcement comes after a U.K. air base in Cyprus was struck by an Iranian drone.
The U.S. hit over 1,250 targets in the opening 48 hours of the campaign, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, focusing on Iranian command and control facilities, air defenses, ballistic missiles, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Iranian naval forces.
“What you’re seeing is the unfolding of a CENTCOM operational concept that’s been refined for over 20 years,” retired Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the commander of CENTCOM from 2019-2022, said during an event hosted by the Middle East Institute.
The U.S. campaign was greenlit at 3:38 p.m. Eastern Time on February 27 and commenced at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time on February 28, Caine said. Israel killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the opening day of the campaign, which officials say was assisted by U.S. intelligence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill March 2 that the U.S. launched the campaign because there was an “imminent threat” from Iran.
The Trump administration says U.S. forces will continue pummeling Iranian military facilities, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Rubio did not rule out sending ground troops into Iran. President Donald Trump has said the campaign may last over a month.
“Whatever the time is, it’s OK, whatever it takes,” Trump said at a White House event March 2. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have the capability to go far longer than that.”
So far, six U.S. troops have been killed in the operation in an Iranian retaliatory strike on a U.S. facility in Kuwait, U.S. officials said.
“War is hell and always will be,” Hegseth said. “You have air defenses and a lot’s coming in, and you get most of it. … Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through, and in that particular case, happened to hit a tactical operation center.” Hegseth did not name the country where the attack occurred.
U.S. military officials indicated they do not think they have fully blunted Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks.
“We expect to take additional losses,” Caine said. “This is major combat operations.”
Three F-15Es, seeking to defend against Iranian aerial threats, were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in a friendly fire incident on March 2, the U.S. military said. All six aviators in the two-seat jets ejected and survived.
Even as losses mount, the administration has indicated it may ramp up its campaign.
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Rubio said before briefing lawmakers. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.”
“We have objectives,” he added. “We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives.”