Air Force-Army cooperation has come a long with since Operation Anaconda in early 2002. [Read our coverage here and here.] In that Army-led action, ground force commanders failed to even notify the air component until shortly before the operation was to begin. The result was chaos, as ground forces ran into trouble and the air component was forced to improvise a protective response.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…