Combined Air Operations Component officials quickly organized a supply airdrop for US Army soldiers in Afghanistan facing an imminent attack by Taliban forces. The CAOC tapped a C-130 crew that had just flown its last sortie on a 30-day forward deployment and was preparing to depart Bagram AB, Afghanistan. The crew took less than an hour—instead of a usual two-three hours—to upload the eight tons of supplies and plan the mission. They had little combat airdrop experience, but the crew from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, pulled off the impromptu mission, making the airdrop within eight seconds of the plan and within a few hundred feet of the target zone. (Read more here.)
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Jan. 15 as the two nations look to further solidify their ties in the face of growing Chinese and North Korean threats.
