Several Serbia Air Force airmen visited Aviano AB, Italy, recently to experience USAF F-16 operations up close and personal. They were returning the visit by several Aviano Triple Nickel airmen to Serbia earlier this year. Air Force journalist TSgt. Jerome Baysmore reports that the Serbian Air Force is in the midst of rebuilding, following losing 70 percent of its infrastructure and some 150 aircraft to Operation Allied Force aircrews in 1999. That was then, and this is now.
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.