Twelfth Air Force, also known as Air Forces Southern, transitioned from a traditional numbered air force to the service’s new organizational structure during a ceremony Feb. 29 at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The reorganization creates a new component headquarters “responsible to organize, train, equip, and sustain our forces for in-theater missions,” along with the 612th Air and Space Operations Center that is “responsible to the combatant commander for the operational level command and control of air, space, and cyberspace assets,” said Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, 12th Air Force commander. As part of the transition, AFSOUTH, the air component for US military activities in Central and South America and the Caribbean, deactivated seven organizations and concurrently activated two new units. The changes represent the implementation of a Chief of Staff directive to establish component organizations that operate and train every day in their wartime configuration. Central Command Air Forces went through a similar transition March 1. In the process it changed its name to Air Forces Central, or AFCENT. (Davis-Monthan report by Nathan Broshear)
A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Europe across the Middle East to the Persian Gulf on July 25 in a 32-hour flight, as conflicts continued to roil the area with U.S. troops coming under attack in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and July 26, U.S. officials told…