The first unit to fly a “sustained F-15E mission” from Bagram AB, Afghanistan, are returning to their home base at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. SSgt. Craig Seals reports that the 391st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron flew more than 1,000 combat sorties during its deployment to Bagram, which normally had sustained A-10 fighter operations. (Read more in “Tiger Strike on the Taliban.”) Initially the Strike Eagle unit had no fixed facilities for its maintainers. CMSgt. Joe Livingston noted that the 391st started out with just “one clamshell tent,’ but he added, “Between the RED HORSE folks and our maintainers, we now have hardened, fully functional buildings.” (The RAF Lakenheath, Britain, F-15Es that introduced the Small Diameter Bomb to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq did not operate from Bagram.)
KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”