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.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.