The years of effort by US Air Force airmen to rebuild an Iraqi Air Force continue to show results. Among the latest, 28 new second lieutenants graduated from the Iraqi Air Force Academy, including nine headed to pilot training. And, just last week, the first Iraqi instructor pilot flew an Iraqi student pilot for the first time. Air Force military training instructors, volunteers from Lackland AFB, Tex., are training Iraqi warrant officers. Last week, Brig. Gen. Robert Allardice, leader of USAF’s Iraqi effort, said the number of sorties flown by the fledgling Iraqi Air Force is growing at a fast rate and it could extend to kinetic weapons next year.
The Pentagon has concluded a new agreement to buy laser-guidance kits that turn rockets into drone-killing weapons. BAE Systems and the Defense Department announced a framework deal of up to seven years for 25,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits annually for the U.S. military.