A Georgia Air National Guard E-8C JSTARS crew provided ground targeting information to F-16s and Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters during the multi-state, joint Army and air Guard Exercise Carolina Thunder. “The incorporation of JSTARS is huge,” said South Carolina Army National Guard intelligence officer Capt. Michelle Roberts in a release. “JSTARS provides the overall common operation picture from air-to-ground, and we can use that,” she added. In addition to the Georgia ANG’s 116th Air Control Wing’s JSTARS, South Carolina ANG F-16s practiced suppressing enemy air defenses to pave the way for the Army attack helicopters, during the three-day exercise, Nov. 14-16. “We then provided close air support to troops on the ground and non-traditional ISR,” South Carolina ANG 169th Fighter Wing air operations planner Maj. Ryan Corrigan said in a release. A Tennessee ANG KC-135 tanker supported the air component, and some 650 personnel participated at McEntire JNGB, S.C., and the nearby Savannah River Site training area.
The Government Accountability Office wants the Air Force to explain who will run bases when wings deploy under the service’s new force generation model along with several other unanswered questions, saying the concept is long on vision but short on details.