Four of the F-16 Block 30 aircraft slated to form the Air Force’s new aggressor training unit for Red Flag–Alaska exercises arrived on Jan. 20 at Eielson AFB, Alaska. They are part of the 21 Block 30 Vipers that Eielson is getting from the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan AB, South Korea as part of the swaps that USAF is making under its Common Configuration Implementation Program, an F-16 modernization effort. In exchange Eielson is sending its 22 F-16 Block 40 airplanes to Kunsan. The Block 30s will be part of Eielson’s 18th Aggressor Squadron that activated in August 2007. They feature the “Artic Flanker” white-gray-black paint scheme to differentiate them as aggressor aircraft for air-to-air training exercises. (USAF report by A1C Nora Anton)
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.