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The USAF has a pretty substantial inventory of stand-off weapons, and an absolutely enormous inventory of guided bombs.

They do, but the current leadership does not have any appetite for entering Iran's airspace after the last downing drama. If Iran captures a pilot, there is going to be no more room for market manipulation.

Where and who is the pilot who crashed btw?

I doubt the identity of the pilot & WSO will be released -- why would it -- at least not until they retire and write a book about it and out themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_F-15E_rescu...

It was big news a few months back.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2k1dgz142o

But those have to be carried in by planes, and the US doesn't have absolute control over the airspace yet, so that means risking crews.

Is the general public willing to accept downed planes, captured crews, and botched rescue attempts as the new normal?

Specific detail, we don't and won't have enough control to do aerial refueling in range of Iran. Tankers aren't stealthy or fast, I'm not sure if they have any countermeasures at all.

One can look at a map of strikes and draw the line on our range, the northeast half of the country is mostly untouched.

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