Exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder in Alaska officially ends Saturday, but airmen from Misawa AB, Japan, plan to stay an extra week “to implement lessons learned during the exercise and to fine tune our flight tactics,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Williams, Misawa’s 13th Fighter Squadron commander, reports Stars and Stripes. About 200 fighter pilots, maintainers, and support personnel from Misawa are participating in CCT, the largest Pacific multilateral combat exercise.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
