Two more F-16 fighters—one from Hill AFB, Utah, and one from Luke AFB, Ariz.—last week suffered problems that prompted emergency landings. A Vermont Air National Guard F-16 also recently developed a problem that required the pilot to jettison his external fuel tanks before attempting a landing. At Hill, a pilot with the 388th Fighter Wing had to jettison external fuel tanks and munitions shortly after takeoff. A bomb dropped on a shed near where ordnance is stored and exploded, demolishing the shed and a nearby transformer, reports The Salt Lake Tribune. The pilot landed safely. The Luke pilots in a two-seat F-16D had to make a hard landing short of the runway at Wickenburg Municipal Airport after losing engine power, according to a Luke release. They walked away safely. (This ABC15 report has slides showing the fighter in the dirt.)
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.