Members of the 33rd Fighter Wing recently shot the first live air-to-air missiles from operational F-35A strike fighters during a Jan. 31 weapons system evaluation at Tyndall AFB, Fla. The AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles were loaded onto four strike fighters, but after the first three missiles were shot successfully crews determined the remaining missile did not need to be fired, according to a Feb. 1 release. The test comes a few weeks after Air Education and Training Command dropped the first live bombs from an F-35A over a range at Eglin AFB, Fla. “It is important that we have different tools available to us in the cockpit,” said Maj. Mark Schnell, 33rd Operation Support Squadron chief of standards and evaluation, in the release. “Having an array of tools for the array of targets we will face is going to help us be more lethal while minimizing collateral concerns.”
The U.S. thwarted a drone attack on U.S. forces at Al Asad air base in western Iraq on April 22, marking the first time that American troops have been targeted since February, U.S. officials said. “We can confirm it was an attack on Al Asad,” a defense official told Air & Space…