The Air National Guard’s 186th Air Refueling Wing in Meridian, Miss., will gain a new Joint Cargo Aircraft mission and an Air Force War Fighting Headquarters detachment by Fiscal 2011, announced Gov. Haley Barbour last week. Under BRAC 2005, the 186th ARW loses its KC-135 tankers. The governor expects the new missions to add about 180 jobs.
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.