USAF F-16s fired 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions, successfully destroying a booby-trapped house in the vicinity of Al Mahmudiyah, Iraq, on Nov. 23. According to Central Command Air Forces, coalition forces discovered the house in a search of the area following an attack on Iraqi Army soldiers by insurgents on Nov. 21. As an explosive ordnance team checked the house, coalition forces cleared civilians from the surrounding area. F-16s aircrews deployed from Air Force Reserve Command’s 457th Fighter Squadron, NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex., flew the strike mission.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…