The Air Force’s plan to cut MQ-9 Reaper production and some air patrols in the fiscal 2021 budget request would negatively impact the ability to conduct operations and provide enough over watch in hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, the top officials responsible for ...
Two U.S. service members died during a March 8 fight with Islamic State group militants in northern Iraq. The Americans were killed while advising and accompanying Iraqi security forces during a mission targeting an IS stronghold in a mountainous area, according to a March 9 ...
U.S. forces have the green light to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan under the recently signed deal with the Taliban, even though some pockets of violence have already returned. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Gen. Austin Miller, the commander of Operation Resolute Support, to “get moving ...
President Trump nominated Gen. Charles Q. Brown, head of Pacific Air Forces, to be the next Air Force Chief of Staff, succeeding Gen. David Goldfein, who retires this summer. If confirmed, Brown would be the first African American to serve as Chief of Staff of ...
NATO has agreed “in principle” to send additional personnel to Iraq, potentially freeing up the U.S. to bring some of its training personnel home, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Feb. 13. NATO member states agreed to send more train, advise, and assist personnel to the ...
The Air Force recently deployed the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System back to the Middle East, about three months after pulling the aircraft from theater for the first time in 18 years. Air Combat Command said at the time there was a "higher ...
Remains of the two crew members aboard the E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node aircraft that crashed this week in Afghanistan were recovered Jan. 28, a US defense official confirmed. At first, Afghan special forces couldn't reach the site of the crash—a snowy field in Ghazni ...
US strike aircraft dropped more bombs in Afghanistan in 2019 than any other year since at least the surge in 2009. US aircraft flew 2,434 strike sorties, releasing 7,423 weapons, according to statistics released Jan. 27 by Air Forces Central Command. These totals are higher ...
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein confirmed an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node crashed in Afghanistan on Jan. 27, but said it’s still unclear if there were any casualties. US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a statement it does not appear ...
At least 11 US service members have been flown out of Iraq for medical care following the Jan. 7 Iranian ballistic missile attack on Al Asad AB. Despite initial claims that there were no American injuries in the attack, US Central Command and senior Pentagon ...
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Dec. 6 refuted a recent Wall Street Journal report that the US is contemplating sending 14,000 more troops to the Middle East.
The Pentagon is considering deploying additional forces to the Middle East—a move it considers a “prudent” step to deter Iranian aggression. The deployment would be part of a dynamic response to ongoing threats in the region, the Defense Department's head of policy told lawmakers on ...