Several Serbia Air Force airmen visited Aviano AB, Italy, recently to experience USAF F-16 operations up close and personal. They were returning the visit by several Aviano Triple Nickel airmen to Serbia earlier this year. Air Force journalist TSgt. Jerome Baysmore reports that the Serbian Air Force is in the midst of rebuilding, following losing 70 percent of its infrastructure and some 150 aircraft to Operation Allied Force aircrews in 1999. That was then, and this is now.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
