US and coalition officials formally end Operation Northern Watch, the US-Turkey-UK operation to enforce UN resolutions by patrolling the northern no-fly zone in Iraq. It began as Operation Provide Comfort shortly after the end of Gulf War I in 1991. ONW flew its last combat mission on March 17, 2003.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.