US Air Force personnel from Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, were among the first on the scene when a Kyrgyz 737 airliner crashed Aug. 24 shortly after takeoff from the Manas International Airport. Kyrgyz officials notified USAF leaders of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, which sent two fire trucks, an ambulance, and about two dozen medical and emergency response personnel to the crash site. Other Air Force medics stood by at the airport to assist with the injured. According to an Associated Press news service report, the crash killed 65 of the 90 passengers. (Manas AB report by Maj. Damien Pickart)
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…

