A
n MQ-9 Reaper hunter/killer unmanned aerial vehicle last week dropped its first precision guided munition during operations over Afghanistan. SSgt. Trevor Tiernan reports that the Reaper, which USAF sent to Southwest Asia in September and which performed its first strike—using a Hellfire missile—last month, responded to a request for assistance from ground forces on Nov. 7 during a reconnaissance flight. The joint terminal attack controller working with coalition ground forces in Afghanistan provided targeting data to the Reaper’s pilot and sensor operator at Creech AFB, Nev. The pilot released two GBU-12 500-pound laser-guided bombs, taking out the enemy fighters.
The top Air Force commander on on the Japanese island of Okinawa has clamped down alcohol and issued a curfew for junior enlisted Airmen and Guardians at Kadena Air Base for the next month. The order came roughly two weeks after a U.S. Marine was arrested for allegedly robbing and…