In Afghan
istan on Feb. 24, F-15E Strike Eagles provided close air support to coalition forces near Qurya. Taking direction from a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, the F-15Es dropped a GBU-38 joint direct attack munition and GBU-39 small diameter bomb on the single-story buildings used by enemy forces as small arms fire positions. In Iraq on the same day, pilots of F-16 Vipers assigned to monitor two mosques and a roadway near Ar Ramadi for anti-Iraqi activity, saw that the ground had been disturbed after a stopped vehicle with two men in it moved off. They relayed the information to a JTAC for checkout by ground forces. Meanwhile, other F-16s provided over-watch for various actions, including a medical evacuation and ground force actions, providing real-time reports of suspicious individuals in various locations.
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…