New Jersey Air National Guard F-16s recently participated in multinational Exercise Thracian Star hosted by the Bulgarian air force at Graf Ignatievo AB, Bulgaria. “We came over here primarily to do air-to-air training in basic fighting maneuvers and tactical intercepts,” 119th Fighter Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Timothy Hassel said in a July 27 release. Thracian Star gave the pilots “a chance to fly against an actual MiG”—both MiG-21s and MiG?-29s—and practice interoperability with allied aircraft from Greece, Poland, and Romania, according to a Hellenic Air Force release. A total of eight F-16s and 150 pilots, maintainers, and support personnel from the ANG’s 177th Fighter Wing at Atlantic City deployed for the exercise, July 13-24.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited the site of U.S. Space Command’s future home Dec. 12 and endorsed the move to establish the headquarters in Alabama after years of political back and forth.
