Overview
- SETAF-AF said search teams expanded patterns west into the Atlantic and kept operations active into a second week with air and sea assets focused off Cap Draa.
- The effort has covered roughly 12,000 square kilometers with more than 600 personnel, including American and Moroccan troops, mountaineering specialists, and diverted French and Moroccan ships.
- U.S. aircraft supporting the search include a C-12 Huron, a UC-35, and a KC-130J, with Moroccan planes also flying sorties over the coastline and nearby waters.
- After African Lion 26 concluded on May 8, a U.S. command element stayed in Morocco to provide on-the-ground command and control for the continuing search.
- The exercise doubled as a test bed for new tools, with units trialing AI-enabled command and control, autonomous vehicles, and small drones to speed targeting, and medical teams using the BATDOK-J app that syncs to a cloud data store and Military Health System GENESIS to keep patient records intact during transfers.