Defense Secretary Ash Carter, speaking in advance of the July summit in Warsaw, called on NATO to do more in the fight against ISIS, including approving another deployment of NATO E-3 AWACS and additional training forces inside Iraq. “I like the things that we are discussing today, and I hope the heads of state approve both the AWACS and the defense capability building and training aspects,” Carter said at the end of a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Wednesday in Brussels. “There’s going to be more that each of us as individual nations can do to hasten the destruction of ISIL.” NATO already is doing a good job generating forces to help train Iraqi forces to hold territory it has gained inside the country, Carter said. But, the alliance could provide more logistics support. “All this stuff is very important to getting victory and sustaining victory,” he said. While some individual countries have accelerated their participation in Operation Inherent Resolve, the organization itself needs to “keep accelerating” to hasten the destruction of ISIS. (See also: Rallying the Allies.)
The Air Force on Jan. 6 released nearly a dozen photos of F-22 and F-35 fighters returning to Puerto Rico after supporting the raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—the first official images of forces who participated in Operation Absolute Resolve.
