The Air Force has taken over weapons intelligence duties for Army and Marine Corps ground forces in Iraq. USAF has created a weapons intelligence flight within the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron at Balad AB, Iraq, to provide teams for counter-improvised explosive device collection and exploitation, performing work once done by an Army military intelligence battalion. Airmen for the new task have come from intelligence, explosive ordnance disposal, OSI, and security forces fields, and all received specialized training before deploying, according to Air Force officials.
Air Force senior statesmen explained the reasons they jointly sent a letter to Congress urging restoration of the E-7 Wedgetail and more F-35s to the fiscal 2026 defense budget.