US aircraft have ramped up their airstrikes against al Qaeda in Yemen, bringing the total to more than 70 in about one month. Aircraft conducted 20 more strikes since the middle of last week, hitting militants, infrastructure, fighting positions, and equipment, the Pentagon said Monday, according to VOA. The airstrike campaign follows the Jan. 29 raid inside Yemen that resulted in the death of Navy SEAL Chief Special Warfare Officer William “Ryan” Owens, several civilians, and the destruction of an MV-22 Osprey.
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.
