Airmen Teach Hungarians Air-to-Air Refueling

Airmen from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, England, and Swedish air force personnel collaborated with their Hungarian counterparts recently to train at Kecskemét AB, Hungary, where the Hungarians learned how to perform air-to-air refueling for the first time with their JAS-39 Gripen fighters, according to a July 17 report. Instructor pilot Maj. Ben Kline and boom operator TSgt. Daniel Maas helped teach Hungarian students about communicating with US tankers and working air-refueling procedures. Swedish Gripen instructors ran a classroom syllabus portion of the training. The Swedes also trained two Hungarians to be instructor pilots in air refueling procedures. After three days of academics, pilots took flight for familiarization, flying approximately six hours every day for six days. After days of dry contacts, the Hungarian pilots took on fuel for the first time. “For the future of the Gripen fleet, it means we have a capability the Hungarian Air Force has never had before,” said Lt. Col. Tamas Szvath, the fixed-wing training commander for the HAF.