USAF F-16s fired 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions, successfully destroying a booby-trapped house in the vicinity of Al Mahmudiyah, Iraq, on Nov. 23. According to Central Command Air Forces, coalition forces discovered the house in a search of the area following an attack on Iraqi Army soldiers by insurgents on Nov. 21. As an explosive ordnance team checked the house, coalition forces cleared civilians from the surrounding area. F-16s aircrews deployed from Air Force Reserve Command’s 457th Fighter Squadron, NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex., flew the strike mission.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.