A NATO AWACS surveillance aircraft arrived at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., on Aug. 8 from its home at Geilenkirchen, Germany, for three weeks of training with the F-15Es of the 4th Fighter Wing. It will stay through Wednesday. Turkish Air Force Capt. Gurhan Tarman, co-pilot of the AWACS, said the aircraft is serving as “the eyes” of the friendly F-15Es that engage in mock dogfights with other F-15Es of the wing playing the role of the Red force. Capt. Nicholas Suppa, assistant director of staff of the wing’s 335th Fighter Squadron, said the training is also a valuable experience for building coalition interoperability. And it gives the fighter pilots the opportunity to receive face-to-face briefs and debriefs with an AWACS crew, he said. (Seymour Johnson report by A1C Marissa Tucker)
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
