Iraqi F-16s and attack helicopters have joined the fight for Fallujah, flying both deliberate strikes and close air support sorties to assist ground forces as they advance on the city, Army Col. Christopher Garver, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said during a Wednesday briefing. Although Iraq does not coordinate its flights with the coalition’s air tasking orders, it has made multiple strikes and flown support for advancing brigades. The coalition also has seen the aircraft fly strikes in support of Mosul and Baiji earlier this year, Garver said. The country has six F-16s in its air force, which first arrived in July 2015, and its pilots are trained with the Arizona Air National Guard in Tucson. (See also: Iraqi Airstrikes on ISIS.)
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
