Some USAF F-16 pilots participating in Viper Lance ‘06 in Romania have gotten to fly the backseat of Romanian Air Force MiG-21s and returned the favor to their Romanian counterparts. Viper pilot 1st Lt. Coleman McDonald says the MiG-21 Lancer has some avionics similar to the F-16 but has different performance and handling characteristics. Romanian MiG-21 pilot 1st Lt. Lates Catalin believes the USAF F-16 pilots are “very well trained” and calls the F-16 “a superior aircraft.”
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
