In Afghanistan May 13, an F-15E dropped a 2,000-pound joint direct attack munition and a 500-pound JDAM onto enemy positions in Zormat, successfully destroying the targets, Air Forces Central said in a May 14 release. And an F-15E dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb onto disabled coalition ground vehicles in the vicinity of Qalag to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. In Iraq, an F-16 hit enemy targets in the vicinity of Al Amarah with 500-pound JDAMs, and an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle struck enemy combatants in Baghdad with a Hellfire missile, AFCENT said.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.