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ir Force Secretary Michael Wynne expressed frustration in his speech at AFA’s Air & Space Conference yesterday over the way airpower’s contributions in the war on terror are frequently glossed over. Air supremacy over the battlefield seems to be assumed, he said, but it is not a birthright and today’s fourth-generation fighters become less dominant the more time passes. Also of concern is the lack of recognition of the way air power’s asymmetric advantage shifts battles in our favor. Air supremacy prevents the enemy from massing in Iraq or Afghanistan—large troop concentrations would get wiped out. “It would be an entirely different war” without control of the skies, he said.
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.