Joint terminal attack controllers with the Indiana Air National Guard’s 113th Air Support Operations Squadron deployed for the first time as a unit to Afghanistan, announced Indiana Air Guard officials May 14. Teamed with the Army National Guard’s 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the JTACs are part of an all-Guard presence mentoring Afghan forces in Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan, said the officials. Based at Hulman Field near Terre Haute, each of the unit’s deployed JTACs and air liaison officers volunteered for the assignment, coordinating air support for the security force assistance team comprised of Ohio and Michigan Army Guardsmen. The 113th ASOS’ parent 181st Intelligence Wing stood up in 2006, training and equipping battlefield airmen over the last few years to bring the air support squadron up to deployment readiness. (Hulman report by Lt. Brian Weitz)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said the U.S. needs to prepared for future conflicts in which its adversaries will be able to closely track the location of American forces and attack with autonomous systems that use artificial intelligence.
