Afghanistan air operations declined in Feb. - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Afghanistan air operations declined in Feb.

In February, Air Force and partner warplanes dropped fewer bombs on Afghanistan targets than they have in 15 months, according to Air Forces Central Command.

For the month, there were 132 bomb drops or strafing runs, the AFCent summary said, the lowest since December 2008’s total — 110.

Air Force, Navy and other NATO warplanes flew 2,071 close air support sorties, down from January’s 2,409.

Air operations often slow down in the winter because bad weather grounds planes and limits visibility.

Additionally, the totals don’t include missions flown by Marine Corps jets in support of Marine operations because those flights are not coordinated through AFCent. The totals also don’t count strikes by helicopters and special operations aircraft.

Over Iraq, there were no air strikes during the 507 sorties flown there, AFCent said.

Reconnaissance planes flew 1,806 missions above Iraq and Afghanistan, just 17 fewer than in January.

Airlift teams flew 4,100 sorties in February, delivering 101,000 passengers and 26,400 tons of cargo and airdropping 3 million pounds of supplies, all down slightly from January. Tankers flew 1,202 sorties, providing 67 million pounds of fuel to 5,390 planes, also down from January.