During his remarks, Caine expressed his condolences to the families of the troops who died during combat.<\/p>\n
The Joints Chief of Staff did not relay the specifics of how many additional troops were on their way, but said that there was more tactical aviation flowing into theatre.<\/p>\n
However, according to Caine, the military was close to where it wanted to be for total combat capacity and combat power for Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM.<\/p>\n
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Cooper will continue to consistently assess the trajectory of the military campaign, deciding whether it is on or off that line, Caine said. <\/p>\n
The Joint Force would then develop options for consideration by the defense secretary and the president that would increase or decrease the amount of combat capability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t happen overnight,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cThis is a big battle space with a lot of capabilities, that\u2019s part of the reason why it\u2019s such a threat to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. is aggressively pushing into Iranian airspace to destroy anything attempting to target the U.S., according to the defense secretary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of it as shooting the archer instead of the arrows,\u201d Hegesth said.<\/p>\n
Within the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. struck more than 1,000 targets, with Hegseth reiterating this morning that the overall objective is to protect and defend the U.S. and prevent Iran from being able to project power outside its borders.<\/p>\n
Three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle jets also went down after an incident<\/a> of friendly fire involving Kuwait air defenses, CENTCOM said.<\/p>\n The six aircrew on board the jets ejected safely.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change,\u201d Hegseth said during his remarks.<\/p>\n