A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle on May 20 dropped 2,000-pound GBU-31 and 500-pound GBU-38 joint direct attack munitions on enemy combatants fighting friendly forces in Asadabad, Afghanistan, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials in a May 21 release from Southwest Asia. And, on the same day, in Lwara, USAF A-10s and F-15Es struck enemy combatants using laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-31 munitions and an unidentified 500-pound bomb. Joint terminal attack controllers deemed the strikes successful.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.