The air boss of Southwest Asia operations tells the New York Times that he has a “deliberate plan” that would position US and coalition airpower for the long haul in Iraq—the time after the major ground force redeployment. The Air Force has been contemplating just such a scenario for several years. One thing Air Force Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of the Air Forces Central component of US Central Command, says he wants to do it to incorporate more unmanned aerial platforms, especially the new larger, more lethal MQ-9 Reaper (see below), into operations “to complement our manned airplanes … so that I get persistence overhead at a lower overall cost.” Right now, the Air Force says it is on track to ramp up the Predator and Reaper availability in Southwest Asia to meet current demands.
More than 20 tankers lined the runway at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., on March 27, for an “elephant walk” and the base’s largest mass launch of aircraft ever. Sixteen KC-46s and five KC-135s participated in the flush, with aircraft and Airmen from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing and the 931st…