#USAF United States Air Force /
#RAF Royal Air Force - Middle East Activity
6 February 2026 - 1900z
A total of one hundred and nine C-17's have arrived/filed/en route to six bases in the Middle East, with a further nine in progress flights. Additionally, there has been movement of Royal Air Force F-35B's from RAF Marham to RAF Akrotiri, as well as a number of Typhoon FGR.4's returning from Saudi Arabia.
NOTE: All information is obtained via public sources (ADS-B/ACARS), and this list is by no means exhaustive.
As things stand, the RAF currently have the following aircraft at RAF Akrotiri and in Qatar:
Typhoon FGR.4: 14 (10x Akrotiri, 4x Qatar)
F-35B: 6x (Akrotiri)
Voyager: 2x (Akrotiri)
This is the current breakdown for USAF flights into the CENTCOM AOR:
Arrived/En Route/Filed via ACARS: 109
Muwaffaq Salti Air Base: 64
Al Udeid Air Base: 13
Prince Sultan Air Base: 13
Diego Garcia NSF: 9
Ali Al Salem Air Base: 7
Isa Air Base: 3
Pending flights: 9
Biggs Army Airfield: 4
Robert Gray Army Airfield: 3
Anniston Army Depot: 1
Francis S. Gabreski ANGB: 1
RAF Akrotiri, Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Airbus KC.2/3 Voyager 2x
#43C6F7 ZZ334 - ASCOT 9221
#43C6F4 ZZ331 - ASCOT 9968
Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II 6x
Cell 1: RAFAIR 9641-9644
Cell 2: RAFAIR 9645-9646
Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 4x
#43C784 ZK361 - ASCOT 9964X
#43C794 ZK366 - ASCOT 9965X
#43C7A3 ZK426 - ASCOT 9966X
#43C792 ZK364 - ASCOT 9967X
RAF Akrotiri is a busy base at the moment. There are already six Typhoon FGR.4's based there for Operation Shader duties, and today the four that participated in exercises in Saudi Arabia have returned - it's possible these will return home to the U.K. in the coming days.
Six F-35B's from RAF Marham departed today for Akrotiri, and tanker ASCOT 9221 came with them. There are now two tankers at Akrotiri. Again, it's possible one of these will depart with the four Typhoon's on exercises.
Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III 6x
#AE145E 06-6160 - REACH 844 (Biggs AAF)
#AE2FA2 08-8190 - REACH 849 (Biggs AAF)
#AE146E 07-7176 - REACH 835 (Roosevelt Roads NAS)
#AE2FAD 08-8201 - REACH 801 (Roosevelt Roads NAS)
#AE145A 06-6156 - REACH 827 (Roosevelt Roads NAS)
#AE145F 06-6161 - REACH 891 (Roosevelt Roads NAS)
Six arrivals into Salti today. The movements from Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico appear to now be complete. Two additional flights in from Biggs Army Airfield too.
Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia
Lockheed C-5 Super Galaxy 1x
#AE0577 86-0026 - REACH 1831
REACH 1831 arrived at Prince Sultan from Robert Gray Army Airfield today. This is the twelfth into Prince Sultan from Robert Gray, and fourth C-5.
Other Airlift Movements
Lockheed C-5 Super Galaxy 2x
#AE0589 87-0044 - REACH 1829 (Robert Gray AAF)
#AE057D 87-0032 - REACH 1830 (Robert Gray AAF)
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III
#AE1177 - 02-1105 - REACH 274 (Anniston Army Depot)
#AE49C5 - 09-9209 - REACH 804 (Biggs AAF)
Additional flights from Robert Gray and Biggs Army Airfields. Also, there is now a flight from Anniston Army Depot - it will be interesting to see if there are more flights from here in the next few days.
Tanker Movements
We still haven't seen anything major in terms of tanker movements. REACH 787 departed Naval Station Rota after being stuck for a few days. GOLD 41 also departed, headed back to Bangor Air National Guard Base.
Currently there are three tankers positioned at Bangor:
#AE04CC 62-3499 - GOLD 83
#AE0506 61-0293 - GOLD 82
#AE5FAE 15-46067 - GOLD 41
GOLD 82/83 are on Coronet East 035 moving "VT" F-35A's, whereas GOLD 41 is on 037 moving E/A-18Gs. I'm unsure as to why GOLD 41 has moved from Moron to Bangor, considering the two remaining E/A-18's are still at Moron.
Any additions or corrections please let me know. Thanks!
Photos:
@AlexRoebuck @havoc_aviation
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