More than 75 US and Iraqi airmen attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Iraqi air force’s new air operations center on Sept. 30 at Hawk Base, the Iraqi air force’s new headquarters site near Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Robert Kane, commander of the 321st Air Expeditionary Wing, and Iraqi Staff Lt. Gen. Anwar Hamad Amen Ahmed, Iraqi air force commander, were in attendance. The $9 million project, scheduled for completion around next May, will succeed the current Iraqi AOC located nearby at Camp Victory that is run by the Iraqis and their US advisors. Kane said the new AOC “will play a central role in the growth and future success of the Iraqi air force and will be a key to maintaining a secure, stable and sovereign Iraq.” Anwar thanked the US for its support in making the new center possible. (Hawk report by SrA. Alyssa C. Miles)
The Air Force is upgrading some 70 MQ-9 Reapers to a new configuration that will keep the type capable and relevant to the near-peer fight for another 15 years. It awarded General Atomics a $272.3 million contract to enhance the Reaper's weapons, electric power. connectivity and resistance to jamming, among…