Tactical Air Control Party airmen juggled 33 allied aircraft from four different NATO countries, simulating coalition close air support operations in Afghanistan at Serpentex 2012 on the isle of Corsica. “Participants are going to Afghanistan all the time,” said Capt. Michael Hogan of the 4th Air Support Operations Group at Ramstein AB, Germany. “The training is important because it gives our multinational counterparts the training needed for deployments in a life-like, controlled environment,” he added. During the two-week exercise, the TACPs worked side-by-side with allied controllers. Hosted by France at Ventiseri-Solenzara Air Base, the mountainous island setting “allows us to train in all geographic terrains, which has been extremely productive,” explained Hogan. More than 550 military personnel from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States participated in the exercise, which ran from March 26 to April 6. (Solenzara report by A1C Caitlin O’Neil-KcKeown)
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.