Air Force and coalition aircraft flew 59 close air support missions on July 1 in Afghanistan and 23 in Iraq, Air Forces Central announced yesterday. In Afghanistan, a B-1B bomber took out enemy rocket positions near Gereshk with 500-pound and 2,000-pound joint direct attack munitions, while an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle struck insurgents in the vicinity of Kandahar with a Hellfire missile. Near Bari Kowt, an A-10 and F-15E destroyed enemy forces with a 2,000-pound JDAM and 500-pound bomb. And in the area around Sar Hawzeh, A-10s dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs and a 500-pound bomb to take out a high-value enemy command-and-control target as well as rocket positions, AFCENT said.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
