US and Kyrgyz officials are about to wade into a second round of negotiations over the American military presence at Manas Air Base, reports Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. The new Kyrgyzstan leadership has been pressing for an increase in rental payments.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.