UAE F-16s arrive in Jordan to support war on ISIS. Some of them don’t wear national markings

Six UAE Air Force F-16s have arrived in Jordan.

Photographs showing of six United Arab Emirates Air Force F-16E/F Block 60 jets arriving at an airbase in Jordan were released by the Jordanian Armed Forces on Feb. 8.

The images depict the warplanes which were deployed to help Jordan and the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS. The kingdom has conducted 56 air strikes against ISIS positions in the last three days after it launched an air campaign following the burning alive of the pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh captured on Dec. 24.

According to the information released by Amman, C-17 cargo planes and A330 tanker aircraft supported the deployment.

The UAE Air Force had temporarily suspended its participation in the coalition air strikes over concern for the safety of its aircrews, following Kassasbeh’s murder.

Interestingly, two of the aircraft depicted on arrival in Jordan, don’t wear the national flag on the tail. This is not the first time aircraft taking part in real operations are stripped off their national markings. Some U.S. drones deployed in sensitive areas perform their clandestine missions “unmarked.”

However, since the participation of the UAE to the anti-ISIS air war is far from being secret, the lack of the UAE flag on the tail of two F-16s could be explained by their participation in the far less advertised air strikes on Islamist militias in Libya last year.

Here below a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 is prepared for a mission with its bomb marked with Koranic verses

Image credit: Jordanian Armed Forces

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.