Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, is the Air Force’s preferred location to host Royal Saudi Air Force F-15SA training. The Saudis are building a large force of sophisticated F-15SAs under a newly approved US foreign military sale. As part of the deal, the Saudis have requested the potential standup of a 12-aircraft training contingent in the United States. Air Force officials determined that Mountain Home is the preferred site primarily due to the presence of USAF F-15E units there, its suitable weather and desert environment, and the availability of airspace and infrastructure for training. Notional plans calls for at least a five-year Saudi presence at the base starting in 2014. The 12 F-15Sas would arrive that year. The beddown is contingent upon the completion of the environmental impact analysis. Mountain Home is already home to Singaporean F-15SG fighter training. (SAF/PA report by Andre Kok)
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
