Thursday, November 9, 2017

Tyndall hosts large exercise

And airman pushes tools along the flight line.
Air Force photo
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Personnel and equipment from Air Force installations across the country have converged on Tyndall Air Force Base in Northwest Florida to participate in Checkered Flag 18-1, a two-week, large-scale exercise that integrates the war-fighting capabilities of fourth-and fifth-generation aircraft. It’s being held with the concurrently running Weapons Systems Evaluation Program, Combat Archer. Tyndall is hosting the 525th Fighter Squadron, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; 131st Fighter Squadron, Barnes Municipal Air National Guard Base, Mass.; 393th Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; 79th Fighter Squadron, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.; 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.; and 116th ACW, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. “What we have in our Checkered Flag airspace is an over water range that affords us the opportunity to be fully supersonic down to the ground,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Lee, 44th Fighter Group deputy commander and Checkered Flag 18-1 Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander. “This is not a capability that we have on a large scale at any other ranges within the United States.” The exercise wraps up Nov. 17. (Source: 325th Fighter Wing, 11/09/17)