US Air Force,
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq: Airmen of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing here provided air power support for Army, Marine and coalition ground troops as Operation Arrowhead Ripper took the fight to the terrorists throughout the Diyala Province in Iraq in late June and early July.
The 332nd AEW's F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs have joined the coalition effort to target enemy fighters by conducting systematic, deliberate clearing of weapons caches, bomb factories and terrorist safe houses.
The Air Force presence is felt throughout the region as Airmen fight the war on terrorism.
F-16 pilots conducted shows of force for ground forces near Baqoubah July 1. An F-16 dropped a guided bomb unit-12 on a house suspected of being booby-trapped with an IED June 30, and the house and IED were destroyed by the bomb. A-10s from Al Asad Airfield dropped GBU-12s June 30 that destroyed a building where insurgents were hiding. The A-10s then strafed enemy targets hiding in a palm grove with cannon rounds.
In addition, Airmen provided reconnaissance, shows of forces and nearly around-the-clock armed overwatch for coalition ground forces June 20 to 23. F-16s dropped GBU-12s and GBU-38s on IED factories and emplacements, and an A-10 dropped a GBU-12 on an IED location. Joint terminal attack controllers coordinated the attacks and confirmed the direct hits.
Capt. Pete Johnson of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and a 2nd Infantry Division air liaison officer, works with terminal attack control teams consisting of JTACs and tactical air command and control specialists.
“There are four battalions of Soldiers on the objective the entire time without interruption,” said Captain Johnson, a native of Fort Collins, Colo. “On many occasions, the JTACs were able to leverage close air support to enable the fight to go forward. We employed munitions 49 different times so far during the operation. This has been a huge enabler.”
Having F-16s and A-10s provide 24-hour close-air support coverage “is a huge help to the overall fight,” said Captain Johnson who is deployed from Fort Lewis, Wash. “This operation is enormous in scope and could not have been handled successfully without coordinated fires — this being (close-air support coverage), artillery and attack aviation. The JTACs continue to be a critical link in the kill chain.”
Captain Johnson was previously stationed with one of the 332nd AEW's F-16 units.
“Although I was never fortunate enough to deploy and fly a combat sortie with them, I felt honored to be able to provide terminal attack control as a JTAC to them,” he said. “On a previous visit to Balad, I promised them first class (combat-air support) control, and I like to think that my Airmen were able to deliver. The infantrymen of the Arrowhead Brigade are acutely aware of the presence and contributions of the United States Air Force on a daily basis during this operation.”
The operation was launched by Task Force Lightning to eliminate al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq. About 10,000 Soldiers with a full complement of helicopters, Stryker and Bradley Fighting Vehicles are participating in Operation Arrowhead Ripper. Included in this operation are more than 1,000 Iraqi army soldiers and a comparable number of Iraqi police.
As the American Soldiers moved through Baqoubah and the surrounding areas, they discovered at least two weapons caches containing assault weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, large and small caliber ammunition and explosives. Ground forces also coordinated a precision-guided munitions strike to destroy a known al-Qaida weapons cache located inside a safe house, and reported a large secondary explosion due to the munitions the terrorists stored inside.
“These criminals will know no safe place to hide in Diyala,” said Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general for operations for Task Force Lightning and Multinational Division North. “The people of Diyala are tired of the terror and violence these al-Qaida thugs have brought to their province and are cooperating with us in order to root them out.”
“I'm very proud of the support our Airmen have provided to our Army and Marine brothers and sisters,” said Brig. Gen. Burton M. Field, the 332nd AEW commander. “We're helping the people of Iraq take back their country from the terrorists.”
