Members of the 960th Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron recently returned to their home station at Tinker AFB, Okla., after spending more than a month participating in Operation Coronet Connie in Southwest Asia. The E-3 AWACS unit joined other US airmen to train and fly with airmen from France, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and United Kingdom. It was the first time for a USAF E-3 unit to take part in Coronet Connie, which started in 2004 with just two countries. Maj. Tim Hart told the Tinker Take Off that the exercise enabled the E-3 airmen to “reassess our assumptions about how other nations employ various weapon systems.”
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.