An Iraqi Air Force F-16 assigned to the Arizona National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing for foreign pilot training crashed near Douglas, Ariz., on the state’s southern border, during a Thursday night training sortie, reported The Arizona Republic. The jet crashed approximately five miles from the small Douglas Municipal Airport on the US-Mexican border at 8 p.m. local time, June 25, according to an ANG release. Emergency responders controlled a brush fire started by the crash, according to the press, but the single pilot’s status is unreleased. The downed aircraft was reportedly a Block 52 F-16D—the first delivered to Iraq, according to an F-16.net report. Iraq ordered a total of 36 F-16C/Ds. The cause of the incident is under investigation, and details will be released as they become available, officials stated.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…