Wing provides combat airpower during Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Baqoubah

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Shannon Collins
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq --   F-16s and A-10s from the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing here continue to provide airpower support for U.S. Army, Marine and coalition ground troops during Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Baqoubah, Iraq.

About 10,000 Soldiers with a full complement of attack helicopters, close air support, Strykers and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, are participating in and supporting Operation Arrowhead Ripper throughout Diyala Province.

Throughout the last two weeks, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing's F-16s and A-10s have joined the coalition effort to target enemy fighters by conducting systematic, deliberate clearing of weapons caches, bomb factories and terrorist safehouses.

F-16 Fighting Falcons conducted shows of force for ground forces near Baqoubah July 1. An F-16 dropped a GBU-12 on a house suspected of being booby-trapped with an IED June 30. The house and IED were destroyed by the bomb. The pilots watched over ground forces clearing a two block area. A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from Al Asad Airfield dropped GBU-12s on a building there as well June 30. The bombs destroyed the building where insurgents were hiding. The A-10s then strafed enemy targets hiding in a palm grove with cannon rounds.

The F-16 and A-10 units are led by Brig. Gen. Burton Field, 332nd AEW commander.

"I'm very proud of the support our Airmen have provided to our Army and Marine brothers and sisters," he said. "We're helping the people of Iraq take back their country from the terrorists."

In addition to providing reconnaissance, shows of forces and nearly around-the-clock armed overwatch for coalition ground forces June 20 to 23. The 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, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 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," he said. "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."

Captain Johnson, deployed from Ft. Lewis, Wash., said having F-16s and A-10s provide 24-hour CAS coverage "is a huge help to the overall fight.

"This operation is enormous in scope and could not have been handled successfully without coordinated fires -- this being CAS, artillery and attack aviation," the Ft. Collins, Colo., native said. "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 CAS 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 Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. Included in this operation are more than 1,000 Iraqi Army soldiers and a comparable number of Iraqi police.

"These criminals will know no safe place to hide in Diyala," said Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, Deputy Command General for Operations, Task Force Lightning and Multinational Division North, in a Multi-National Corps -- Iraq press release. "The people of Diyala are tired of the terror and violence these al Qaeda thugs have brought to their province and are cooperating with us in order to root them out."

As the 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 Qaeda weapons cache located inside a safe house, and reported a large secondary explosion due to the munitions the terrorists stored inside.

As the coalition forces continue the ground mission, the Airmen from Balad Air Base, located about 40 miles north of Baghdad, continue to launch a significant amount of Air Force combat airpower in Iraq.