Davis-Mothan AFB, Ariz., A-10 pilots and support personnel deployed to Fort Irwin, Calif., between Jan. 18 and Feb. 1 to support Green Flag 15-03, a joint service close air support exercise held at the Army’s National Training Center. The deployment was a unique opportunity for Davis-Monthan’s 357th Fighter Squadron, because the training unit does not often go on temporary deployments to support exercises away from Arizona. The 133 airmen helped train in various CAS scenarios at Fort Irwin, working with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, as well as other training opportunities. Over the course of two weeks, the A-10s flew 118 sorties in 11 days of flying operations. Instead of scripted scenarios, pilots flew out and coordinated with joint terminal attack controllers on the ground, said Capt. Chris Anthony, a 357th FS instructor pilot. During the deployment 357th FS crews supported US Navy training off the coast of San Diego, as part of “Air Operations in Maritime Surface Warfare,” where they helped defend a vessel against a swarm of boats and develop tactics for maritime interdiction, Anthony said.
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…