About 100 members of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Fighter Wing in Springfield arrived in Kecskemet, Hungary, in late April to participate in a two-week combat-training exercise sponsored by the Hungarian military. The event runs through May 10. These Air Guardsmen, who operate F-16 fighters, will practice together with their Hungarian air force hosts in air-to-air combat scenarios, flying maneuvers both with them and in mock adversarial roles. The Hungarians will fly their JAS-39 and MiG-29 fighters and Mi-24 helicopters. “It is one of the few training opportunities [the Hungarians] have to fly against a larger formation,” said Lt. Col. Nathan Thomas, the wing’s project officer for the exercise. The two nations’ pilots will also simulate ground attacks coordinated through US-trained Hungarian joint terminal air controllers. (Kecskemet report by SSgt. Tina Maddock)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.