Flight tracking shows US refuelling aircraft deployed from Spain to Greecepublished at 10:55 GMT
10:55 GMT
Alex Murray
BBC Verify journalist
The last 24 hours have been exceptionally busy for analysts tracking the scale of the US military deployments in Europe and the Middle East, including the sighting of the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier near Morocco.
Data from Flightradar24 shows the US has established refuelling points at bases stretching from Rota in southern Spain to the island of Crete in Greece to assist the operation of fighter jets and other aircraft, as Washington reportedly weighs up options for possible military action against Iran.
The KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling aircraft is the workhorse of the fleet and six of them are listed on Flightradar24 as being on the ground at Rota Naval Station.
At Souda Bay Naval Station in Crete there are seven more KC-135s.
Image source, Getty Images
“It’s genuinely becoming difficult to keep pace with movements of this scale and intensity,” according to analysts from Italmilradar, who track military movements in the Mediterranean.
This assessment tallies with what we’ve heard from other experts. Sam Wise, an aviation analyst at intelligence firm Janes, says there has been a “higher than normal amount of movement” in recent days.
The high-profile nature and scale of the deployments means the US no longer has an element of surprise in any action against Iran, according to Arun Dawson, a researcher at the Freeman Air and Space Institute.
Dawson adds the US will likely need “to mount a larger or more sustained effort” if it hopes to succeed.