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The Royal Navy is not the only Armed Force stepping up escorts for naval vessels traversing the Strait of Hormuz, amid intense harassment from Iran.

The RN has two warships in the region - Plymouth based Frigate HMS Montrose and Destroyer HMS Duncan - and now the US Air Force (USAF) has announced F-15E Strike Eagles are also patrolling the Gulf and "conducting Surface Combat Air Patrol (SuCAP) operations to ensure free and open maritime commerce in the region".

And defence analysts believe the fighter jets are armed with cluster bombs, which could be useful for beating back swarms of small boats, such as those belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC.

On its official website , The US Air Force's Air Combat Command this week announced: "The F-15E Strike Eagles from the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron are flying air operations in support of maritime surface warfare.

"Their role is to conduct combat air patrol missions over the Arabian Gulf and provide aerial escort of naval vessels as they traverse the Strait of Hormuz.

(Image: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Erin Piazza)

"The F-15E is a dual-role fighter designed to perform air-to-air and air-to-ground missions and is currently conducting Surface Combat Air Patrol (SuCAP) operations to ensure free and open maritime commerce in the region.

"The 336th EFS is assigned to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, and arrived in country the second week of June, joining ADAB’s inventory of other fighters to include F-15C Eagles and F-35A Lightning IIs.

"The F-15E has the capability of carrying a robust assortment of air-to-ground munitions, and flies with various configurations to ensure an ability to respond effectively to dynamic situations."

Responding to the announcement and its accompanying imagery, the War Zone reports: "Images emerged of the cluster munition-armed F-15Es on July 31, 2019, as part of an official news item from the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing about the Surface Combat Air Patrols, or SuCAP.

"The 380th is the Air Force's main unit at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. The Strike Eagles, assigned to the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Wing, had arrived there in June."

"Pictures show at least some of the aircraft carrying Wind Corrected Munition Dispensers (WCMD), a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system guided canister that can carry a number of different cluster munitions."

(Image: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chris Thornbury)

The website says such munitions "could be useful against swarms of small boats".

In a caption to one of the photos, USAF says: "The various munitions configurations provide the jets with diverse response options while conducting combat air patrol missions in support of maritime operations".

The use of cluster bombs, air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that release or ejects smaller submunitions, is controversial - and more than 100 counties have signed an international agreement that they will never use them under any circumstances.

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Earlier this week, A Plymouth based Royal Navy frigate has had 85 run-ins with Iran in 27 days, its Commanding Officer has revealed.

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Cdr William King, captain of Type 23 HMS Montrose, said these "interactions" have included Iran "running boats in at the frigate at speed".

"The Iranians seem to be keen to test our resolve, test our reactions, most of that time," said Cdr King.