F-15Es struck enemy combatant fighting positions June 1 in the vicinity of Nangalam, Afghanistan, with 500-pound joint direct attack munitions and one 2,000-pound JDAM, Air Forces Central announced June 2. A joint terminal attack controller confirmed the success of these attacks. Also in Afghanistan on that day, an F-15E dropped 500-pound JDAMs onto enemy combatants in Qalenaw, “successfully eliminating the targets,” AFCENT said. In total, coalition aircraft flew 52 close-air-support missions in Afghanistan and 69 in Iraq on June 1.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.