Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Hoog, director of the air planning element for operations in Iraq, says that the time it takes coalition forces to “generate GPS-level accurate coordinates” is classified but “it’s measured in minutes.” Hoog briefed reporters in Baghdad late last week on the specifics of the June 7 F-16 air strike on the safe house of terror leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, saying that the lead F-16 dropped both the GBU-12 laser-guided bomb and the follow-on GBU-38 GPS-aided bomb. With the first bomb, the pilot steered the laser spot onto the target; with the second, the pilot entered the satellite coordinates and the GBU-38 did the rest. Hoog noted that it’s routine for F-16s on patrol over Iraq to carry both munitions. He added that it took perhaps 24 seconds for the bombs to travel the three to 3.5 nautical miles to “successfully hit their target.”
The Department of the Air Force is limiting medical shaving profiles to a maximum of six months, down from the previous limit of five years, and will soon require Airmen and Guardians with profiles issued in the last 10 months to be reevaluated as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s…
