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Video: US-Led Coalition Conducts Carrier-Launched Airstrikes on Daesh Targets in Iraq

© US NavyTwo U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17, deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), fly over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Sept. 23, 2020. The F/A-18 Super Hornet is designed to perform fighter escort, fleet air defense, suppression of enemy air defenses, air interdiction, close air support, and aerial reconnaissance.
Two U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17, deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), fly over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility Sept. 23, 2020. The F/A-18 Super Hornet is designed to perform fighter escort, fleet air defense, suppression of enemy air defenses, air interdiction, close air support, and aerial reconnaissance.  - Sputnik International
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Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) officials predict a continuation of US-led coalition engagement with Daesh forces in the Middle East as the militants will likely “continue to try and take advantage of safe havens.”

Navy Commander Rebecca Rebarich, spokesperson for the US Fifth Fleet, recently confirmed to Stars and Stripes that two F/A-18F Super Hornets of US Navy Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 were deployed from the USS Nimitz on September 23 and performed an airstrike on Daesh targets.

The mission was the service’s first coalition airstrike against Daesh via carrier-launched aircraft in years. “The last such strike was by USS Theodore Roosevelt in [March] 2018,” Rebarich said in a Monday email.

OIR spokesperson Army Col. Wayne Marotto stated Thursday that the airstrike was backed by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and conducted on “Daesh hideouts in Wadi Al-Shai, Iraq.” The move destroyed “one cave and three shelters.”

“Daesh operatives will continue to try and take advantage of safe havens; but there is no safe place for terrorists to hide,” he said in a tweet with the hashtag “#defeatdaesh.”

Prior to the Wednesday airstrike in a rural area of the Kirkuk Province, the Fifth Fleet issued a news release announcing CVW 17 would be “providing close air support and defensive counter-air missions to the coalition fight” versus Daesh forces.

© US NavySailors guide an E/A-18G Growler, from the “Cougars” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139, on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Video: US-Led Coalition Conducts Carrier-Launched Airstrikes on Daesh Targets in Iraq  - Sputnik International
Sailors guide an E/A-18G Growler, from the “Cougars” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139, on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

“Our support to Operation Inherent Resolve illustrates the critical airpower a carrier strike group can bring to the joint fight,” said Capt. Todd Cimicata, commander of CVW 17, in a quoted statement.

“We are able to conduct training with regional partners and contingency missions unique to this area, showcasing the flexibility and capacity that carriers inherently bring to operations from the sea.”

The release highlighted that the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group initiated air operations in support of OIR on September 18. The Navy has been providing aviation support to OIR via the US Air Force’s Combined Air Operations Center since the formation of the operation’s Combined Joint Task Force in 2014.

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