JSTARS Heads Home After 18 Years in CENTCOM

摘要

Air Combat Command has pulled its E-8C Joint STARS fleet out of the Middle East after 18 years, another change for the platform that recently saw its long-running replacement effort canceled and is ramping up in-house maintenance. "Joint STARS has been continually deployed to the [US Cen-tral Command] area of responsibility every day since November 2001," according to a press release from Robins AFB, Ga., where the fleet is based. "Since then, they have flown 10,938 sorties, equaling 114,426.6 combat flying hours in support of nearly every CENTCOM operation including Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Freedom's Sentinel, and Inherent Resolve." Joint STARS collects and sends information that helps direct ground forces and can track moving targets on land, a mission crucial to Army operations. Joint STARS crews flew every other day in CENTCOM, totaling more than 100 combat missions since June.