F16s

Secretary of State Marco Rubio updated U.S. legislators on Iran just hours before President Donald Trump issued warnings over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in his State of the Union address. In the past days, U.S. military forces in the region have grown to the highest levels seen since the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. New assets that have arrived include U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors, reportedly in Israel, while F-16s have been deployed to Diego Garcia to protect the Indian Ocean outpost against potential Iranian attacks.

Rubio provided a rare intelligence briefing for congressional leaders — the so-called “gang of eight” — which includes the senior lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees. The contents of the briefing are classified, but it underscores the wider preparations for potential significant military action against Iran.

The “gang of eight” receives classified intelligence from the White House in the form of briefings, and their content can include preparations for military operations. It is notable that the last time Rubio publicly briefed the group was on January 5, one day after the U.S. military launched its successful operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

As he left yesterday’s briefing, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said: “This is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people.”

“I’m very concerned,” added Jim Himes, the ranking democrat on the House intelligence committee. “Wars in the Middle East don’t go well for presidents, for the country, and we have not heard articulated a single good reason for why now is the moment to launch yet another war in the Middle East.”

Rubio’s intel update preceded Trump’s State of the Union address last night, during which the U.S. president reaffirmed that Iran would never be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons.

In his address, Trump stated that he would rather handle rising tensions with Iran through diplomatic means. However, he also claimed that Tehran was developing ballistic missile technology that could potentially reach the United States, without providing further details.

“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas,” Trump said. “And they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

A group of Block 52 F-16CJ Vipers belonging to the South Carolina Air National Guard was recently spotted heading east across the Atlantic as part of a huge build-up of U.S. forces ahead of potential strikes on Iran. Each of the Vipers was notably seen carrying an Angry Kitten pod, a new electronic warfare system that helps defend against anti-air threats, and that may now be headed for its first use in real combat. Angry Kitten also has a very unique genesis, which we will dive into in a moment. These particular F-16s are primarily tasked with the Wild Weasel mission and are optimized for neutralizing enemy air defenses, something that would be crucial in any future operation aimed at the regime in Tehran. They can fulfill many other types of missions, as well.

The 12 F-16CJs arrived at Lajes on the island of Terceira in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, on February 17 and left the next day. The Vipers are readily identifiable as ones assigned to the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing by the “South Carolina” emblazoned on many of their tails, as well as distinctive markings reflecting the wing’s nickname, the “Swamp Foxes.” They were accompanied by at least one KC-46A Pegasus tanker. A substantial U.S. Air Force tanker force is now also forward-deployed in Lajes to support the ongoing build-up.

Roar of the F-16s Over the Atlantic | KC-46A Opens the Afternoon ✈️🇺🇸

Military Stopover in the Azores | F-16 & KC-46A ✈️🇺🇸 at Lajes

The F-16s transiting through Lajes carried inert AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) on their wingtips and drop tanks under each wing, as well as a single baggage pod. Each Viper also had a LITENING targeting pod and an AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System pod. The AN/ASQ-213 is a key feature of Wild Weasel F-16s and is primarily designed to support the employment of members of the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) family. AGM-88-series missiles are chief among the munitions U.S. aircraft typically use during suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) missions.

However, the most notable stores seen on the jets were the Angry Kitten pods hanging underneath their fuselages. U.S. Air Force F-16s, and especially Wild Weasel CJs, typically carry other types of electronic warfare pods, such as the AN/ALQ-184 and AN/ALQ-131, on that station.

Angry Kitten has a very different story from other electronic warfare pods in U.S. military service. It is a direct outgrowth of the AN/ALQ-167, a series of pods primarily used to mimic hostile electronic warfare threats for training and testing purposes for decades. There are some documented examples of U.S. aircraft carrying AN/ALQ-167s, at least on an ad hoc basis, on real combat missions.

The development of Angry Kitten, which dates back to the early 2010s, was originally focused on providing improved electronic warfare capabilities for testing and training use, especially by aggressors playing the role of ‘red air’ adversaries. However, the potential value of the new pods as operational assets to help protect friendly aircraft quickly became apparent. The ability to rapidly adapt the pods in training to provide different effects simulating enemy systems, in particular, opened the door to a much more agile electronic system for use on real-world missions.

“We had a jammer called ‘Angry Kitten.’ It was built to be an adversary air jamming tool,” now-retired Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, then commander of Air Combat Command (ACC), told TWZ and other outlets back in 2022. “And all of a sudden, the blue team said, ‘you know, hey, we kind of need that, can we have that for us?’ And so I see this iterating and testing our way into this.”

Angry Kitten has been flying on F-16s since 2017. The pods have also been at least test flown on U.S. Air Force A-10 Warthog ground attack jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and HC-130J Combat King II combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft, as well as U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighters. AATC said last year that there were plans to evaluate the pod on KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling tankers.

As TWZ has previously written:

“Unlike the older AN/ALQ-167s, Angry Kitten is designed to be more readily modifiable and updatable to more rapidly adapt in parallel with the threat ecosystem. This is enabled in part by advanced Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) technology, which allows radio frequency (RF) signals to be detected and ‘captured,’ as well as manipulated and retransmitted. Electronic warfare systems that use DRFM can project signals from hostile radars (and radar seekers on missiles) back at them to create false or otherwise confusing tracks. Data collected via DRFM can also be used to help improve and refine the system’s capabilities, as well as for other intelligence exploitation purposes.”

“In general, electronic warfare systems need to be able to accurately detect, categorize, and respond to waveforms based on information contained in their built-in threat libraries to work most effectively. This, in turn, requires specialists to routinely reprogram systems to keep them as up to date as possible. Automating and otherwise shortening that process at every step of the way by developing what are known as cognitive electronic warfare capabilities has become a major area of interest for the entire U.S. military. The absolute ‘holy grail’ of that concept is an electronic warfare system capable of adapting its programming autonomously in real-time, even in the middle of a mission, as you can read more about here.”

Details the Air Force has previously shared about Angry Kitten have highlighted how the system important stepping stone for new cognitive electronic warfare capabilities.

“Unlike the F-16 tests, where pre-programmed mission data files were used, the C-130 testing includes development engineers aboard the aircraft who can modify jamming techniques mid-mission based on feedback from range control,” a release last March from the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC), which has been heavily involved in Angry Kitten’s development, explained.

“They are making changes [in] real-time to the techniques and pushing updates to the pod, seeing the change in real-time,” Chris Culver, an electronic warfare engineer involved in the work, said in that same release. “This approach allows for rapid optimization of jamming techniques against various threat systems.”

For F-16s supporting future operations in and around Iran, Angry Kitten would offer a valuable boost in self-defense capability for the fourth-generation jets. Stealthy B-2 Spirit bombers, as well as F-22 and F-35 fighters, spearheaded the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iran last year, with non-stealthy platforms providing support on the periphery. A new protracted campaign would involve more substantial effort to break Iran’s air defense overlay, which would likely require heavier use of fourth-generation tactical jets. The SEAD/DEAD missions that the South Carolina Air National Guard jets are optimized for inherently involve added risk since the aircraft are deliberately tasked with finding anti-air threats and engaging them.

Past TWZ analysis of air defense capabilities that Iran has supplied Houthi militants in Yemen offers some sense of the risks involved, even to stealth aircraft. However, Iran’s own capabilities are more advanced. At the same time, Israeli strikes took a significant toll on Iranian air defense systems during last year’s 12 Day War, especially in the western end of the country. It’s unclear to what degree that capacity has been restored in the interim.

Angry Kitten is, of course, just one part of the massive array of electronic warfare and other capabilities that the U.S. military has deployed in and around the Middle East in recent weeks.

It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump’s administration will launch a new operation, which could last weeks, against Iran. There continues a steady drumbeat of reports pointing to the increasing likelihood of strikes as U.S. military assets continue to flow into the region, but also stressing that no final decision has been made. Trump and other administration officials are at least still publicly pushing for a diplomatic resolution to the current crisis, focused primarily on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“They better negotiate a fair deal,” Trump said today when asked if he had a message for the Iranian people.

Reporter: Do you have any message to the Iranian people?

Trump: The Iranian people in Iran or people here?

Reporter: In Iran

Trump: They better negotiate a fair deal. You know, the people of Iran are a lot different than the leaders of Iran. And it’s very, very very sad… pic.twitter.com/0a7i5LtGf2

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 20, 2026

“The most I can say – I am considering it,” Trump had also said earlier today when asked if he was considering strikes on Iran.

If the Trump administration does decide to move ahead with a new Iran operation, Wild Weasel F-16s from the South Carolina Air National Guard carrying Angry Kitten pods are among the capabilities that could be brought to bear.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

A pair of F-16s sitting alert at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California, were scrambled early Sunday morning after unidentified flying objects were reported over Nevada and, later, California. One of the objects proved puzzling enough to controllers at Oakland Center, the FAA’s regional air traffic hub, that it reached out to aircraft flying over the northern California area for visual confirmation about what was being observed.

Eventually, it was determined that the objects were weather balloons, officials from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told The War Zone Sunday night. As we have frequently reported, UFOs, now known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), are often confused with drones and balloons, although that doesn’t mean there still aren’t some odd, if not unexplainable, cases. Still, many in the UFO community roll their eyes at these claims as from Roswell on, balloons became a regular explanation for strange things in the sky.

We must note that information remains limited as to what exactly occurred, so details could change as we find out more.

The incident began at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday local time, according to flight tracking data and Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio. The F-16s, call signs SURF 31 and SURF 32, were scrambled after an object was tracked over the Reno, Nevada area. It was later seen over northern California and then a second object was observed.

Much of what happened during these encounters is unclear. At some point, however, Oakland Center was informed about an object flying near Sacramento, but did not know what it was. So an air traffic controller asked aircraft in the vicinity if they saw anything in its direction. A 747-8, UPS flight 32 (UPS32), responded, reporting a “glowing and dimming” object somewhere over the Sacramento area.  Additional aircraft saw it too, so the F-16s, refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker from March Air Reserve Base, callsign GASMAN, were vectored toward the area.

The following is a transcript of ATC recordings obtained by The War Zone from aviation enthusiast Josh Cox that offer snippets from the conversation between Oakland Center and the UPS flight, as well as between Oakland Center and SURF 31.

Oakland Center to UPS 32: UPS Three-Two, if you could do me a favor, One to two o’clock in about 60 miles, F level, 2-5-0, I guess we’re looking for something out there that we don’t have any information on. So if you just keep an eye on that direction, again, one to two o’clock, 60 miles currently, I’ll call it out as you get closer, and if you see anything. 

UPS 32: Something we’ve been kind of looking at in that direction, that sort of right, giving we kind of figured it was just something along the horizon near the dawn. Sometimes you get kind of weird stuff like that, but it’s not really moving. Is your object staying in one place?

Oakland Center: Yeah, we’re being told it’s in that area. And you said…it’s dimming and glowing a little bit. We’ll keep that in mind, but thanks. I appreciate it. If it changes at all, just let me know… I’m not showing anything on my radar, but we’re being told something’s out there that they’re looking for. And UPS Three-Two. Do you know about what altitude it looks like?

UPS 32: (Indecipherable).

Oakland Center: UPS Three-Two, appreciate all the help. We’ll share more information for you, but you can contact Oakland Center at 1.34.15. You have a good one, yeah, it’s about 60 miles…that’s about where we were showing it too. Like I said, thank you. 

The recording we obtained then segues to a conversation between AORTC and SURF31.

SURF 31: SURF Three-One, approved as requested…

Oakland Center: SURF Three-One, it would now be a two-six-zero heading. Just let me know if you want to proceed. 

SURF 31: SURF Three-One, flying two-six-zero.

Oakland Center: SURF Three-One affirmative…it would be about 20 miles from your current position…probably about your nine o’clock. If you could keep an eye out for anything that’s unusual…When we last saw it, it had some orange glowing and dimming lights. But if you see anything unusual out there, just let me know.

You can listen to the audio yourself in the video below:

Oakland Center Asks UPS Flight 32 To Spot Unidentified Object Over Sacremento

After about two hours, the F-16s were ordered to return to base, but then were again tasked toward northern California due to reports of a second unidentified target. The pilot of one of the F-16s was heard on air traffic control audio describing the object seen in the second intercept as a balloon.

“There were no solar panels that I could see, like a balloon with a line hanging down,” the pilot stated. It was unclear which of the two F-16s he was flying. “There was something about halfway down the line. There was another, like tiny object. I can’t tell what it was. Then the line hung down further than that. There were no solar panels. There was no payload. The only distinctive color was the balloon itself was semi reflective. The line itself looked a whitish gray, but it’s hard to tell no other determinately of objects that could be identified.”

While unconfirmed, there seems to have been an E-3 Sentry AWACS involved in this operation. We have seen them scramble to support fighter intercept operations during the Chinese balloon incident and following it when it came to scrambles on mysterious objects. It appears this was one of those cases. The E-3 could provide persistent high-fidelity radar tracking of the target and help support the fighters in their investigation.

While not identifying what type of aircraft was used to track down the balloons, NORAD confirmed the F-16 pilot’s observation.

“On February 15, 2026, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked two Unidentified Balloons (UIBs) over the north central coast of California,” NORAD told us. “The balloons were observed moving northeast, and NORAD assets, including fighter aircraft, were deployed to assess the objects.”

“NORAD’s assessment determined that both objects exhibited characteristics consistent with typical weather balloons,” the command added. “The balloons do not pose a military threat, present no risk to civil aviation, and have no means of maneuver. Based on this evaluation, NORAD has assessed that the UIBs pose no threat to North America.”

While NORAD said that both objects were balloons, we have no independent confirmation, such as radio traffic, regarding the first one.

Balloons are the objects most frequently identified as UAPs by the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). The office was established in 2022 as a centralized organization for managing U.S. military-wide policies and procedures for tracking, reporting, and analyzing UAP incidents, as well as a repository for relevant intelligence assessments and other data.

According to the most recent AARO data from a 30-year period up to January 15, 2026, balloons were named as the source of 52.1% of all UAP reports where an identification could ultimately be made. Satellites were the next most commonly identified objects. Sightings of SpaceX Starlink constellations in particular have often been reported as UAP. This is especially true for pilots seeing ‘flares’ from the Starlink satellites, which can look like aircraft making circles on the horizon.

While NORAD explained that the balloons on Sunday posed no threat, not all have proven to be benign. It was almost exactly three years ago that an object identified as a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S. before being shot down by an F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina. That incident sparked concerns that sensitive installations were being surveilled by Beijing and questions about why it took so long to bring it down.

The next week, U.S. fighters shot down a trio of UAPs in the course of three days in separate incidents over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon Territory, and Lake Huron. 

Last month, the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, operational commander for the Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Region (CANR), confirmed to us that the object shot down over the Yukon was a balloon.

“I’m tracking one object that was shot down near White Horse using an F-22 under the NORAD agreement, obviously authorized by the Canadian government,” Royal Canadian Air Force Maj. Gen. Chris McKenna explained during an exclusive interview. “I don’t believe they have found the wreckage of that thing yet. It’s a white balloon in the middle of a white expanse of snow, so it is actually hard to find. We had Canadian military folks searching for it for weeks. As far as I know, we did not recover it. It was a balloon, either research or a state actor. It’s not known which. I can’t really give you that detail.”

The object over Lake Huron, brought down by an F-16, was determined to most likely have been a weather balloon launched from a U.S. National Weather Service radar station in Michigan. Audio we obtained of that event also more or less confirms that it was a balloon. 

Radio Audio From F-16 Shoot Down Of Object Over Lake Huron

While the F-16s weren’t scrambled Sunday specifically to intercept balloons, the shootdowns in 2023 showed serious gaps in how these objects are tracked. There have been major challenges digesting the massive amounts of sensor data that is available, as the Chinese spy balloon incident clearly showed. Data from sensors that might have picked up the Chinese spy balloon, in particular, was previously filtered out so as not to overwhelm radar controllers and their analysis process. That presented a dilemma, because balloons pose a variety of very real potential national security threats, something The War Zone regularly highlights.

Changing the sensor filters to allow more data to be collected has resulted in more targets being seen, which in turn has resulted in more scrambles. NORAD is clearly taking these objects more seriously, as we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of the Chinese spy balloon.

Once again, right now we still only have information based on radio chatter, flight tracking and what NORAD told us. As we noted earlier, this story could evolve if we find out more on exactly how this chain of events all started and how the first object was identified. It certainly isn’t the first time we have seen a strange occurrence in the air over this region.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com