The commander of US Central Command Air Forces, Lt. Gen. Gary North, said in a statement that he worries “about the health of our aging fleet,” but the continued grounding of the F-15 fleet would not diminish airpower support to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The F-15E Strike Eagles in the theater are on ground alert. North said he expects the accident “investigation to get to the cause of the accident.” Unnamed officials have speculated that the F-15C that crashed last week came apart in flight.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
