NATO Exercises Draw Real 'Fire'

U.S. pilots and maintainers arrived in Poznan Air Base, Poland, on September 4 for an operation placing them with, and pitting them against, the world’s foremost fighter aircraft.

NATO Air Meet 2003, a major recurring exercise, kicked off live-flying exercises September 5; and it runs through September 19 Poznan and at Powidz Air Base (also in Poland).

The flying missions run the gamut of operations from tactical air, suppression of enemy air defenses and electronic warfare, said Capt. Derek O’Malley of the 22nd Fighter Squadron. O’Malley is from Spangdahlem AB, Germany, and is also the squadron’s operations officer at the meet. "This is air-to-everything," he said, referring to even more missions, such as offensive and defensive counter air, air interdiction and air-to-air refueling.

This is the first time the meet has been in Poland, O’Malley said. "The cooperation we’ve received from (the Polish air force) in planning and preparing for this meet really enhances our working relationship," he said.

U.S. Air Force aircraft involved in the meet include F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 52nd Fighter Wing and the KC-135 Stratotankers from the 100th Airlift Wing at Royal Air Force Mildenhall. The 603rd Air Control Squadron from Aviano AB, Italy, will also be participating. The U.S. forces will join more than 80 aircraft from Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark (right), France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and England.

"I’m really excited to get started and looking forward to mission planning with our NATO neighbors," said Capt. Matt Allen, a 22nd FS F-16 pilot. "There are F-16s here from every European nation flying the F-16, so it will be interesting to see how our NATO partners do business."

The pilots especially relish the prospect of flying missions against the MiG-29 Fulcrum, to be flown by pilots from Poland and Hungary. The MIG-29 is the preferred fighter some of America’s potential adversaries, O’Malley said.

"An objective of ours is to 'go to the merge' with the Fulcrum," he said. "The MiG-29 is one of the primary threats we train against, and this is a good chance for us to drop the simulation and fly against the real aircraft."

The pilots are not the only ones looking forward to gaining some experience. About 100 maintainers and other support people from Spangdahlem accompanied the jets and pilots to the meet. Support airmen from Ramstein AB, Germany; Aviano AB; and Lajes Field, the Azores, are also participating in the meet.

"I’m really looking forward to doing my job -- crewing my jet -- in a new environment," said Airman 1st Class Troy Heberholz, a 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant crew chief, who is deploying for the first time.

Heberholz has already learned a lot from his fellow maintainers. "Some of their experiences (support of Operation Iraqi Freedom earlier this year) are really paying off," he said. "They’ve been telling me how to take care of myself, wash my hands, drink only bottled water, stuff like that. We are definitely taking care of each other."

The lessons learned in OIF about communicating with forces from other nations should help at the meet, said Staff Sgt. Chad McClure, a 52nd AMXS engine shop jet mechanic. "We dealt with several other nations down there, and sometimes the language barrier is the hardest part about these kinds of operations," he said. "At least here we don’t have to eat sand."

[Thanks to Master Sgt. Sean E. Cobb, 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs --ed.]

FMI: www.af.mil