The US military said that two US strategic bombers, B-52s, flew over the Middle East for the fourth time since the beginning of the year, and the second since President Joe Biden took office.

The US Army Central Command stated that the two bombers flew overhead, accompanied by military aircraft from regional countries.

Among them are Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The US military did not directly mention Iran in its statement, but indicated that the mission aims to deter aggression and reassure US allies and partners.

A number of commentators considered that by sending the bombers to the region, Washington was sending a direct message to Tehran.

It means demonstrating the readiness of the US forces, and their readiness to respond to the recent attack that targeted the Ain Al-Assad base in Iraq, at the time and place of your choice, as stated by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in an interview with the ABC network.

Why B-52?

The B-52 bomber is considered the crown jewel of the US Air Force, as it is a long-range intercontinental bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons, since its flight began in the mid-1950s, during the tenure of President Dwight Eisenhower.

Since 1952 until now, Boeing has produced 744 bombers for the US Department of Defense, and some old bombers have been discontinued, and the upgraded bombers are used, of which 70 have remained, and are expected to remain in service until the mid-fifties of this century.

No other country has this kind of giant bombers, or any other bombers that come close to its capabilities.

This bomber is characterized by the presence of 8 engines, which allow it to fly at speeds exceeding a thousand kilometers per hour, and it can fly from its bases in the United States to any part of the world without the need to stop for refueling.

Due to the size of the aircraft - which is 48 meters long, 56 meters wide, and 12 meters off the ground - it carries hundreds of cruise missiles and more than 30 tons of various bombs.

Boeing continues to develop the armament systems or communications network for the giant launcher.

The B-52 does not have an impeccable combat record.

Despite its distinction from other bombers around the world, the North Vietnamese communist forces managed during the Vietnam War, and specifically in 1972, with the help of Russian anti-aircraft missiles;

Drop more than 30 of them.

Washington used bomber in all of its following wars;

Starting with the Kuwait Liberation War in 1991, then the Balkan War when it launched attacks on the former Yugoslav Republic in 1999, then the Afghanistan War in 2001, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The administration of former US President Donald Trump also used it in its air strikes in eastern Syria in 2018.

Messages

Michael Rubin, a former Defense Department official and expert at the American Enterprise Institute, believes:

The dispatch of two B-52 bombers to the Gulf is of no particular significance.

Robin said - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that "what is happening is something normal. In the first 24 hours of the Desert Storm war in 1991, the Air Force flew 7 B-52s. If Washington were serious and preparing to go to war or launch attacks, we would have." We're flying more B-52s than we are now. "

For his part, military expert David de Roch, a former warrior and assistant professor at the Near East and South Asia Center at the US National Defense University, noted:

Yet Washington’s dispatch of these bombers "appears to be part of a pattern we've seen since last December, when Iran began to escalate missile, drone and proxy attacks in the region."

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, de Roche said that his country "is trying to remind people in the region that we have military options, and that we are monitoring what Iran is doing, and it can be confronted if the United States chooses to do so."

And he considered that the US military redeployment in the region is related to the negotiation tools with Iran, and it can be considered part of the troop deployment review that Biden demanded.

Military meaning

On the other hand, the US Air Force is keen to show that some ancient weapons are still meaningful and relevant to modern conflicts.

De Roche told Al Jazeera Net, "The Commander of Central Command, General Kenneth Mackenzie, like all our combat commanders, possesses very few military resources and usually has more requirements than available capabilities, so if the Air Force offers to deploy B-52 bombers, it will be It is strange that he refuses that. "

De Roche linked the deployment of the bombers to the tension in the waters of the Gulf, and it is possible that this deployment has been approved or strengthened in light of the recent attacks by the Houthi movement on Saudi Arabia.

"I do not think that there will be a direct military response against Iran until it becomes clear that it will not re-enter the nuclear deal negotiations again," he added.