To the 74 airmen of the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Misawa AB, Hawaii, who deployed for Cope India 2006 to maintain USAF F-16s the pace has been “unreal” and the heat challenging, says SrA. Troy Herberholzt. Initially they had to improvise when some of their equipment was slow to arrive. Still, they managed to turn all 52 missions of the first three days with no maintenance cancellations. How do the Indian mechanics stack up? Well, for one thing, officers perform the bulk of maintenance on Indian Air Force fighters.
As the Pentagon increasingly pivots its focus to strategic competition with China, the U.S. will look to expand its partnership with South Korea to increase security across the entire Indo-Pacific region, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said Dec. 2 during a visit to the northeastern Asian nation.