The Air Force is examining how best to support the intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance needs of the bolstered US presence in Afghanistan next year as unveiled by President Obama on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF’s point man for ISR issues, said Wednesday. But the service has already been surging new platforms and information-gathering capability to the war theater to support the ground troops there, so there will be no radical departure in USAF’s approach, Deptula said during an Air Force Association-sponsored breakfast speech in Arlington, Va. “The Air Force will be part of this plus-up and we are continuing to explore, ‘Okay, how can we deliver more, better, faster?'” Deptula told reporters after his talk. But, he said during his speech, “It’s not like we’ve been waiting around to determine … what is going to be the force-increase option. We’ve been building capability.” Continue
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.