Four of the F-16 Block 30 aircraft slated to form the Air Force’s new aggressor training unit for Red Flag–Alaska exercises arrived on Jan. 20 at Eielson AFB, Alaska. They are part of the 21 Block 30 Vipers that Eielson is getting from the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan AB, South Korea as part of the swaps that USAF is making under its Common Configuration Implementation Program, an F-16 modernization effort. In exchange Eielson is sending its 22 F-16 Block 40 airplanes to Kunsan. The Block 30s will be part of Eielson’s 18th Aggressor Squadron that activated in August 2007. They feature the “Artic Flanker” white-gray-black paint scheme to differentiate them as aggressor aircraft for air-to-air training exercises. (USAF report by A1C Nora Anton)
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.
