The entry portal for airmen assigned to South Korea changes Thursday from Osan Air Base to Incheon International Airport at Seoul, said USAF officials. To get from the airport to the base, airmen and family members—except pets—likely will use local bus service, contracted by the Air Force. The change reflects budgetary cutbacks that led the Air Force to cancel its commercial-contract airline service, called Patriot Express. USAF expects to eliminate the last of the Express charters by 2008.
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.