The Air National Guard’s 110th Fighter Wing, Battle Creek, Mich., has received an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that the 110th earned the award for actions in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 110th was the unit in the hot seat for the no-fly zone enforcement over Southern Iraq, when the US kicked off Iraqi Freedom. A scant two months later, the unit deployed 12 A-10 aircraft back to Southwest Asia for OIF.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.