Tennessee, like several other states that stand to lose their Air National Guard flying units, has filed a lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s right to realign the 118th Airlift Wing, which flies C-130s from the airport in Nashville, without the governor’s say so. The Pentagon wants to move the C-130s to Kentucky and Illinois and send the unit’s aeromedical squadron to Texas. Other states filing lawsuits include Illinois and Pennsylvania.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.