An F-16C at Aviano AB, Italy, on May 5 surpassed 7,000 flying hours. The 20-year-old fighter, tail #2057, is the first Aviano Viper to reach this mark, 3,000 hours past the original service life expected for the air-to-ground fighter. Structural upgrades over the years have extended the expected service life to 8,000 hours, according to Lt. Col. Matthew Sanford, 31st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander at Aviano. He said that those upgrades “together with our continuous and meticulous flightline and phase inspection criteria” are enabling the F-16 fleet to make the 8,000-hour mark. (Aviano report by SSgt. Lindsey Maurice)
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its pilots and maintainers, the Danish…