Dominican air force pilots, radar controllers, and officials visited Air Forces Southern’s combined air and space operations center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., along with the 309th Fighter Squadron and 607th Air Control Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, also in Arizona. The Dominicans recently acquired A-29B Super Tucano light attack aircraft and a ground-based radar surveillance network. They are also working to develop a command and control system to help them coordinate intercepting narcotics traffickers in Dominican airspace. The USAF airmen demonstrated live ground-control intercept procedures, flying Dominican officers in two-seat F-16Ds. They also provided a tour of the CAOC. “This visit provides an excellent opportunity for the [Dominicans] to leverage our lessons learned,” said Lt. Col. Edward Boxx of the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South. (Davis-Monthan report by Capt. Sarah Schwennesen)
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
