NATO members would do well to buy or lease some C-17s for their strategic airlift needs, the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, US Marine Corps Gen. James Jones said March 6 at a Pentagon press conference. According to Jones the European decision to go with an EADS A-400M airlifter, which is still on the drawing board, is shortsighted, since the aircraft won’t meet the whole requirement. Jones says the A-400M is “a tactical aircraft, not a strategic aircraft,” and added that “there’s a need for both.”
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…