The Air Force’s top civilian and uniformed leaders gathered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, last week for one of the service’s trio of yearly meetings, dubbed Corona. Gathering at Wright-Patt—with its Wright brothers heritage—offered another historical setting in keeping with the effort by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley to focus on the service’s roots, according to Lt. Gen. Arthur Lichte, assistant vice chief of staff. The service held its January Corona at Maxwell AFB, Ala., considered the cradle of Air Force education, for the first time in more than 40 years. The Maxwell Corona put the finishing touches on the headquarters reorganization into an A-staff structure. Lichte said the Wright-Patt Corona focused on warfighting issues.
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.