F-15Es struck enemy combatant fighting positions June 1 in the vicinity of Nangalam, Afghanistan, with 500-pound joint direct attack munitions and one 2,000-pound JDAM, Air Forces Central announced June 2. A joint terminal attack controller confirmed the success of these attacks. Also in Afghanistan on that day, an F-15E dropped 500-pound JDAMs onto enemy combatants in Qalenaw, “successfully eliminating the targets,” AFCENT said. In total, coalition aircraft flew 52 close-air-support missions in Afghanistan and 69 in Iraq on June 1.
Seeking to make life harder for a potential adversary like China, the Air Force wants more airfields in more locations, giving the service more freedom to operate in combat. But runways serve little purpose if they are damaged beyond use. The Air Force recently conducted a “beta test” to figure…