The first Commando Sling of the new fiscal year has wrapped. Participating were some 80 airmen from the 14th Fighter Squadron, Misawa AB, Japan. The unit’s F-16s flew with and against Singapore Air Force F-5s. The Misawa airmen felt comfortable with their Singapore counterparts because “they think like we do,” having received much of their training in the US, said Lt. Col. John Pearse, 14th FS commander. However, he asserted it was “very good threat replication” because his F-16 force rarely gets to train against smaller aircraft.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.