Air National Guardsmen of the 199th Fighter Squadron at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, got the chance to fly their F-15s against reserve brethren flying F-16s from Air Force Reserve Command’s 93rd Fighter Squadron at Homestead ARB, Fla., in a dissimilar aircraft combat tactics exercise called Cactus Aloha. Just getting to Hawaii from Florida provided a logistical challenge.
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.