New Jersey ANG Deploys to SWA: About 150 Air Guardsmen from New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing deployed Feb. 19 for Southwest Asia, joining some 50 fellow 177th airmen already in SWA. This deployment marks a repeat visit—more than one—for many of the Guardsmen, reports the Press of Atlantic City. They are to work with ANG members from F-16 fighter wings in Indiana and Vermont, assigned to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing.
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.