Two Air Force Reserve Command KC-135s from March ARB, Calif., are in Australia, where they’re supplying aerial refueling for forces participating in the US Pacific Command-directed Talisman Saber, an exercise designed to increase interoperability between US and Australian forces. During an initial sortie for the exercise, which runs through July 25, the Reserve airmen of the 506th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron refueled two B-52 bombers deployed from Barksdale AFB, La. Both the USAF tanker and bomber forces are part of the latest PACOM theater security package rotation that is operating out of Andersen AFB, Guam, through August. (Andersen report by SSgt. Jennifer Redente)
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.