The 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB, N.M., has dispatched some 300 airmen and a number of F-117 Nighthawks to Kunsan AB, South Korea on the unit’s fourth air expeditionary force deployment to the peninsula since 2003. Forming the 9th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, the Holloman airmen—pilots, maintainers, and support—and their black jets fly as a third squadron under Kunsan’s 8th Fighter Wing, operating with the “Wolf Pack’s” F-16s. While deployed to Kunsan, the Holloman airmen live and work in South East Asia huts, providing everything from Internet connectivity to hot showers.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.