The Air Force didn't drop as much ordnance many bombs over Islamic State-held territory in Iraq and Syria last month, with less than 2,000 weapons released for the first time since June, according to statistics from Air Forces Central Command. But the service is ramping up its air campaign around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which Iraqi and Kurdish fighters hope to retake following their victory in Ramadi.
There was also a slight decline in Air Force strikes carried out in Afghanistan.
The Air Force service's air campaign against ISIS has remained fairly steady over the past year, with the total number of weapons employed hovering around 2,500 a month. There was an uptick The service has steadily maintained dropping around 2K bombs, with an uptick between November and December when the U.S. and its allies increased their targeting of the militant group's surplus following the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people. For the first time under Operation Inherent Resolve, the Air Force dropped more than 3,100 bombs and missiles during that time.
In March, pilots focused their efforts in northern Iraq, where the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga are preparing trying to retake the city of Mosul, the largest city held by the Islamic State. zeroed in on an ongoing initiative, one that could help U.S. troops and the Iraqi and Kurdish armies in the long run.
"Coalition airpower have struck Da’esh in the Mosul area more than any other area in March," USAFCENT spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Karns said in an email, using an alternative name for the Islamic State groupthe Pentagon's alternative name for the group.
To reclaim Mosul, tThe Defense Department is in the final planning stages of sending more American ground support to Iraq to help reclaim Mosul, the Pentagon announced last month.
"The timing is focused on the next phase of the campaign, which is towards Mosul," Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a March 30 news conference. "It's directly attributable to developing a plan for Mosul, seeing that, coming up with a common plan with the coalition on the ground ... and then figuring out ... what capability will best enable the Iraqi security forces and the [Kurdish] peshmerga to be successful."
The Mosul area fell to ISIS in June 2014.
Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces have relied heavily on the coalition's air campaign, which has conducted about 87,000 sorties over Iraq and Syria since the start of OIR. The Air Force has flown more than half of those sorties, striking key locations and assets about 25 times a day, officials have said.
"In Mosul, since the beginning of the campaign, the Coalition has conducted over 1,200 airstrikes targeting Da'esh terrorists, which resulted in thousands of enemy killed, nearly 900 fighting positions and several hundred heavy weapon systems destroyed," according to an AFCENT news release.
Afghanistan at a turning point
Last month in Afghanistan, the Air Force dropped just 58 bombs and missiles targeting militants there, dropped even less, with only 58 bombs released, according to AFCENT; in January and February, the service released twice that number each month, the most dropped double the amount, marking a strong start to the year with the most bombs weapons released dropped during the winter months since 2013.
Afghanistan has seen recent recently seen an increases in both ISIS and Taliban fighters, especially in the eastern parts of the country. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Afghanistan on Friday to stress the importance of a unified nation to combat both insurgencies.
Before he left Kabul on March 2, Gen. John F. Campbell, who just stepped down as commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell alsourged the Afghans to change restrategize their tactics before the upcoming summer "fighting season" or an imminent escalation in violence from either militant group. U.S. advisers want the Afghan National Army to spend less time manning checkpoints and more time taking the fight directly to the militants. Campbell will officially retire from the Army on May 1.
"Afghanistan is at an inflection point," Campbell said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 2. "I believe if we do not make deliberate, measured adjustments, 2016 is at risk of being no better, and possibly worse, than 2015."
Oriana Pawlyk covers deployments, cyber, Guard/Reserve, uniforms, physical training, crime and operations in the Middle East and Europe for Air Force Times. She was the Early Bird Brief editor in 2015. Email her at opawlyk@airforcetimes.com.
