The Pentagon expects a preliminary report on the Oct. 3 US air attack on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, to be released early next week, more than two weeks after it was initially expected to be released. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during a Thursday briefing the department is still getting all the facts together and reviewing data, such as radio transmission and targeting camera footage, to ensure “we have the full story. I really want the full story.” In the early hours of Oct. 3, a US AC-130 gunship attacked a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the Taliban-held city, killing 22 patients and hospital staff. Carter’s statement came as The Associated Press reported special operations forces knew the site was a hospital and believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to coordinate Taliban activity in the city. While it isn’t yet known if the commanders who ordered the AC-130 strike knew it was a hospital, special operations analysts had tracked a Pakistani operative and Taliban activity at the site, the AP reported, citing an unnamed former intelligence official. The airstrike was requested by Afghan forces and relayed by US special operations forces. Doctors Without Borders staff has said it told the US-led coalition the site was a hospital.
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
