Eight B-52s of the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, La., are dropping 16 precision-guided weapons this week during the final phase of the unit’s weapons standards evaluation program activities at the Utah Test and Training Range. During Combat Hammer, “we evaluate the process of obtaining the munitions and the airmen who build them,” explained TSgt. Mark Purcell, a munitions evaluator from the 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron, in an Aug. 13 Barksdale release. “We also have evaluators on the flightline who evaluate the loading of the munitions and the aircrew who drop them,” he added. Last week, 2nd BW munitions airmen were graded on their assembly of paveway laser-guided bombs, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, and 2,000-pound JDAMS at Barksdale. “We catch errors that may happen during the build, the load, and the drop, and correct them accordingly” before the unit may be called upon to deploy operationally, explained Purcell. Combat Hammer 12-21 runs from Aug. 6 to Aug. 16. (Barksdale report by SrA. Sean Martin)
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
