US F-22 fighter jets arrived in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend in a show of military support from Washington following recent missile and drone attacks launched into the Gulf country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

American F-22 Raptor pilots from the 1st Fighter Wing based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, landed at Al Dhafra Airbase outside Abu Dhabi on Saturday to assist the Emirati military in defending against the attacks, the US Air Force announced.

The F-22 is the United States’ premier fifth-generation fighter jet designed for air-to-air combat. The commander of all US forces in the Middle East, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, told reporters last week that the aircraft has “one of the best look-down radars in the world” that can identify land attack cruise missiles and drones. The top US Air Force commander in the region, Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, said in a statement that the aircraft was “ideally suited” for the task.

The deployment comes as the US Navy has dispatched the USS Cole, a guided-missile destroyer with anti-ballistic missile capabilities, to the UAE.