SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations March 30, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here. In Afghanistan, Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and an MQ-1 Predator engaged anti-Afghan forces near Nurestan using rockets and strafing fire from the A-10s, and a Hellfire missile from the unmanned aircraft system. The strike took place during a firefight on the ground in which anti-Afghan gunmen hit a coalition patrol with assault weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. The strikes allowed the friendly unit to withdraw and inflicted casualties on the anti-Afghan attackers. Near Musa Qala, a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet used a guided bomb unit-38 to hit an enemy building, taking out an active anti-Afghan fighting position. Enemy gunners had been pouring fire on a coalition convoy after detonating an improvised explosive device to start their ambush. During the engagement, an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle also provided a covering show of force, expending flares that allowed coalition forces to move a vehicle that had been disabled by an IED blast. A coalition aircraft flew a show of force over Shindad after a dismounted coalition patrol started taking enemy automatic weapons fire. The maneuver caused enemy forces to stop firing that allowed the unit to regroup.
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