USAF and coalition aircraft are flying close air support missions daily in Southwest Asia—both in Iraq and Afghanistan. (See the number of CAS, intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance, and mobility sorties flown by date, below and in previous Daily Reports.) On Oct. 24 and 25, US Air Force F-16s launched precision-guided bombs, striking an anti-Iraqi force weapons cache on the first day and anti-Iraqi forces the next in action near Karabilah, Iraq.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told lawmakers Apr. 30 that the service’s biggest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy, has a 37 percent mission capable rate—one of several challenges facing the mobility fleet.