US Central Command believes that, on Saturday, an airstrike using a precision guided munition killed the “senior al Qaeda terror consultant and foreign fighter facilitator known as ‘Sheik,’ ” who was in a house in Ubaydi in western Iraq. Officials think the Sheik was in the area to confer with Abu Islam, another top al Qaeda figure killed in a recent airstrike. Connecting the dots: A USAF F-16 on Saturday flew a pre-planned strike, firing one GBU-38. It was the only preplanned airstrike noted for that day. Bingo.
Ukrainian F-16 Pilots Arrive in the US for Initial Training
Sept. 28, 2023
Ukrainian pilots have arrived in the U.S. to train to fly F-16s. In the past few days, several pilots arrived at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to begin English language training, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.