How the US has shifted military jets and ships in the Middle East

The U.S. is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Donald Trump warns Tehran to step back from the conflict.

Trump’s social media posts saying his patience with Iran was “wearing thin” have raised the possibility of deepening U.S. involvement, perhaps by using the bunker-busting bomb to strike a key Iranian nuclear site built deep underground in the mountains.

Israel doesn’t have the massive munition it would take to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant , or the aircraft needed to deliver it. Only the U.S. does.

As America’s national security leaders discuss the next steps, the Pentagon has moved to ensure that its troops and bases in the region are protected.

Here’s a look at the U.S. military presence in the Middle East:

US aircraft moving to the Middle East

In a social media post, Trump warned that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

U.S. officials insisted as of Tuesday that the American military has not taken any offensive actions against Iran, only defensive strikes to take out incoming Iranian missiles to protect Israel.

Additional U.S. fighter jets and refueling tankers have been deployed to the region, but officials have declined to provide specific numbers. Fighter jets have joined in launching strikes to defend Israel, but officials said Tuesday that no American aircraft were over Iran.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Staff Sgt. Sean Carnes/Air Force)

Aurora Intel, a group that reviews open source information in real time in the Middle East, said the U.S. Air Force had put additional refueling aircraft and fighter jets in strategic locations across Europe, including England, Spain, Germany and Greece. The information was obtained from public aviation tracking websites.

On Tuesday, the U.S. relocated a dozen F-16s from a base in Italy to Prince Sultan, in Saudi Arabia, Aurora Intel said.

U.S. fighter jets have been patrolling the skies around the Middle East to protect personnel and installations, and bases in the region are on heightened alert and are taking additional security precautions, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not provided any details, but said on Fox News Channel late Monday that the military movements were to “ensure that our people are safe.”

Warships taking out Iranian missiles and ready to protect US bases

American warships also are shooting down Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Israel, with the USS The Sullivans and the USS Arleigh Burke launching strikes over the weekend.

The Sullivans has been joined in the Eastern Mediterranean this week by the USS Thomas Hudner to continue those defense strikes, while the Arleigh Burke has moved away from the area, according to a U.S. official.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is in the Arabian Sea with the four warships in its strike group. They are not participating in the defense of Israel. But they are positioned to provide security for U.S. troops and bases along the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

The USS Nimitz has been long scheduled to take over for the Carl Vinson and is heading west from the Indo-Pacific region toward the Middle East. The official said it is slated to arrive by the end of the month, and the two carriers would likely overlap at least for a short time before the Vinson heads home to San Diego.

The carrier Carl Vinson, March 2, 2025. (Son Hyung-ju/Yonhap via AP)

The USS Gerald R. Ford is sailing for the European theater of command in a week as well. While the deployment was already scheduled and was not in response to the conflict, the presence of the aircraft carrier, with its accompanying warships, will give the president the option of a third carrier group in the region if needed.

There also are destroyers in the Red Sea, and others are based in the Western Mediterranean and participating in exercises in the Baltic Sea.

US troops are on heightened alert and families are allowed to leave

The forces in the region have been taking precautionary measures for days, including having military dependents voluntarily leave bases, in anticipation of potential strikes and to protect personnel in case of a large-scale response from Tehran.

Officials said they were not aware of many families actually leaving.

Typically around 30,000 troops are based in the Middle East, and about 40,000 troops are in the region now, according to a U.S. official.

That number surged as high as 43,000 last October in response to heightened tensions between Israel and Iran as well as continuous attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

The B-2 and the bunker buster

The Air Force’s B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is the only aircraft that can carry the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known as the bunker buster.

The powerful bomb uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets — and then explode.

There are currently no B-2 bombers in the Middle East region, although there are B-52 bombers based at Diego Garcia, and they can deliver smaller munitions.

If tapped for use, the B-2 bombers would have to make the 30-hour round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, refueling multiple times.

美国正将军用飞机和军舰调往中东及其周边地区，以保护以色列免受伊朗的袭击。与此同时，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普警告德黑兰从冲突中撤出。

特朗普在社交媒体上发帖称，他对伊朗的耐心“正在耗尽”，这增加了美国加深介入的可能性，例如使用钻地炸弹袭击伊朗建在山中深处的一个关键核设施。

以色列没有摧毁福尔多核燃料浓缩厂所需的大量弹药，也没有运送这些弹药所需的飞机。只有美国有。

在美国国家安全领导人讨论下一步措施之际，五角大楼已采取行动，确保其在该地区的部队和基地得到保护。

以下是美国在中东的军事存在概况：

美国飞机正向中东移动

特朗普在社交媒体上发帖警告说，“我们现在已经完全控制了伊朗上空的领空。”

美国官员周二坚称，美军没有对伊朗采取任何进攻行动，只是为了保护以色列而对来袭的伊朗导弹进行防御性打击。

美国已向该地区增派战斗机和加油机，但官员拒绝透露具体数量。战斗机已参与对以色列的空袭，但官员周二表示，没有美国飞机出现在伊朗上空。

一架美国空军F-16“战隼”战斗机，位于美国中央司令部责任区内。（空军参谋军士肖恩·卡恩斯/空军）

实时审查中东地区开源信息的机构Aurora Intel表示，美国空军已在欧洲各地的战略要地增派了加油机和战斗机，包括英国、西班牙、德国和希腊。该信息来源于公开的航空追踪网站。

据 Aurora Intel 称，周二，美国将 12 架 F-16 战斗机从意大利的一个基地转移到了沙特阿拉伯的苏丹王子空军基地。

官员们表示，美国战斗机一直在中东上空巡逻，以保护人员和设施，该地区的军事基地已提高警戒级别，并采取了额外的安全防范措施。这些官员在匿名的情况下谈论了军事行动。

国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯没有提供任何细节，但他周一晚些时候在福克斯新闻频道表示，军事行动是为了“确保我们人民的安全”。

军舰正在拦截伊朗导弹，并随时准备保护美国基地。

美国军舰也在击落伊朗瞄准以色列的弹道导弹，其中“沙利文”号和“阿利·伯克”号在周末发动了打击。

据一位美国官员称，本周“沙利文”号巡洋舰与“托马斯·胡德纳”号巡洋舰一同在东地中海继续执行防御打击任务，而“阿利·伯克”号巡洋舰则已离开该地区。

“卡尔·文森”号航空母舰及其打击群中的四艘军舰目前在阿拉伯海。它们并未参与保卫以色列的行动，而是部署在阿曼湾和波斯湾沿岸，为美军部队和基地提供安全保障。

“尼米兹”号航空母舰早已计划接替“卡尔·文森”号，目前正从印太地区向西驶往中东。一位官员表示，“尼米兹”号预计将于本月底抵达，两艘航母可能会在“卡尔·文森”号返回圣地亚哥之前短暂交接一段时间。

卡尔·文森号航空母舰，2025年3月2日。（孙亨柱/韩联社 via AP）

“杰拉尔德·R·福特”号航空母舰也将于一周后启程前往欧洲战区。虽然此次部署早已安排妥当，并非应对冲突，但该航母及其随行军舰的存在，将使总统在必要时可以选择在该地区部署第三个航母战斗群。

红海也有驱逐舰，其他驱逐舰则部署在西地中海，并参加在波罗的海举行的演习。

美军已进入高度戒备状态，家属获准撤离。

该地区的部队连日来一直在采取预防措施，包括让军属自愿离开基地，以防可能发生的袭击，并保护人员免受德黑兰的大规模报复。

官员表示，他们并不了解有多少家庭实际离开的情况。

据一位美国官员称，通常情况下，约有 3 万名美军驻扎在中东，而目前该地区约有 4 万名美军。

去年 10 月，由于以色列和伊朗之间的紧张局势加剧，以及伊朗支持的也门胡塞武装不断袭击红海的商船和军船，这一数字飙升至 43,000 人。

B-2轰炸机和掩体克星

美国空军的 B-2“幽灵”隐形轰炸机是唯一能够携带 30,000 磅重的 GBU-57 大型穿透炸弹（又称“掩体克星”）的飞机。

这种威力强大的炸弹利用自身的重量和巨大的动能到达深埋的目标——然后爆炸。

目前中东地区没有 B-2 轰炸机，尽管迪戈加西亚岛驻扎着 B-52 轰炸机，它们可以投掷较小的弹药。

如果被征用，B-2 轰炸机将不得不从密苏里州的怀特曼空军基地往返 30 小时，期间需要多次加油。