Airpower statistics for Operation Enduring Freedom for 2009 just released by the Combined Forces Air Component Commander show a rise for close air support sorties, nearly 39 percent compared to 2008. The number of CAS strikes (with data only through November 2009) rose about 17 percent, but the number of munitions actually expended dropped from 2008 to 2009. In the mobility arena, the number of supplies airdropped in Afghanistan nearly doubled, jumping from about 16.6 million pounds in 2008 to more than 32.3 million pounds in 2009. Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance sorties (data for Afghanistan and Iraq) rose by about 37 percent over the previous year. (See data from 2004 through 2009 in Data Points: Airpower Numbers Jump in Afghanistan)
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
