Iraq would receive six C-130J transport aircraft and Israel nine of these platforms under pending foreign military sales announced by the Department of Defense late last month. Iraq would get the six Super Hercules aircraft and associated equipment and services under a proposed $1.5 billion deal, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. Israel’s package of nine airplanes, spares and support could run as high as $1.9 billion, DSCA said in a separate release. Iraq and Israel would join Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, India, Italy, and Norway as international customers of the aircraft, which are also in use in several versions by the US military, including the Air Force.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
