Airmen, family, and friends of the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Fighter Wing said goodbye to the unit’s last four F-16 fighters Jan. 16—a day the state had declared “Happy Hooligans Day” in honor of the unit and its 60th anniversary. The Hooligans have flown F-16s since 1990 but date their history to 1947 when they flew F-51s. Now, the redesignated 119th Wing will fly Predator unmanned aerial vehicles and C-21 executive jets. The wing received its first C-21 just last week.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
