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.]