USAF’
s versatile C-17 airlifter—easily switching from strategic to tactical transport—recently completed an airdrop of 50,000 pounds of ammunition to US Army units engaged in a firefight in Afghanistan. It was the first such drop for a C-17 of the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron’s Det. 1 based at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, and a first for most of its aircrew. (Read more here.)
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.