A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle on May 20 dropped 2,000-pound GBU-31 and 500-pound GBU-38 joint direct attack munitions on enemy combatants fighting friendly forces in Asadabad, Afghanistan, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials in a May 21 release from Southwest Asia. And, on the same day, in Lwara, USAF A-10s and F-15Es struck enemy combatants using laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-31 munitions and an unidentified 500-pound bomb. Joint terminal attack controllers deemed the strikes successful.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.