Combat experience with coalition special operations forces in Afghanistan exposed an inability of those ground troops to communicate with supporting USAF aircraft. To address that skills gap, Air Force Special Operations Command gathered special ops forces from several coalition nations for what AFSOC calls a Combined Special Operations Forces Subject Matter Expert Exchange, making it part of Emerald Warrior 07. The CSOF-SMEE—brainchild of MSgt. Gregory Smith with AFSOC’s 4th Special Operations Squadron—has been working for about five years on a small scale, but Emerald Warrior gave the command the opportunity to ramp it up. Instead of a typical one-week training event for two allied teams, the exercise brought in 100 participants from five countries for two weeks.
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
