Air Force officials have issued a new request for proposals to take over a three-base housing project, which probably will include demolishing 432 units and constructing 398 at Tinker AFB, Okla., reports the Tinker Take Off. The base had been working on a privatization plan with McChord AFB, Wash., but it is now part of the Air Mobility Command West initiative that includes Tinker, an Air Force Materiel Command base, and two other AMC bases, Fairchild AFB, Wash., and Travis AFB, Calif. The base expects RFP responses by the end of July, moving toward contract award in spring 2008. AMC already has settled its AMC East privatization plan, which covers Andrews AFB, Md., and MacDill AFB, Fla.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.