F-35C BuNo 169601 fl ies in formation
with F/A-18A++ BuNo 162442 over
the Sierra Nevada Mountains near
NAS Lemoore, California, on June
5, 2019. The F-35C is the fi rst to
carry markings for VMFA-314 ‘Black
Knights’. US Navy/LCDR Darin RussellDEPLOYMENT NEWS
- The Colorado Air National
Guard’s 140th Wing recently
deployed F-16Cs and more than
300 airmen to Bagram Air eld,
Afghanistan. Normally based at
Buckley AFB, the wing’s 120th
Expeditionary Fighter Squadron
replaced F-16s from the 31st
Fighter Wing that returned to
Aviano Air Base, Italy, from their
deployment in late April. While
deployed, the unit is assigned to
the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. - The South Carolina Air National
Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing
completed a three-week
deployment to Kallax air base,
Luleå, Sweden, on June 5.
The 157th Fighter Squadron
deployed 12 F-16Cs to the
Swedish base for participation
in the ‘Arctic Challenge 19’
exercise, arriving in Sweden
on May 17. Other participants
included KC-135Rs from the
New Jersey Air National Guard’s
108th Wing and the Iowa Air
National Guard’s 185th Air
Refueling Wing and F-15Cs from
the Massachusetts Air National
Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing.More Strike Eagles head east
F-15Es from the 4th Fighter Wing’s 336th Fighter Squadron arrived at
Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, at the start of a deployment
on June 14. The additional 12 F-15Es have increased the USAF’s Strike
Eagle presence in the Middle East to 30 aircraft, which are drawn from
the 335th and 336th Fighter Squadrons.NAVY RQ-4 SHOOT-DOWN
US CENTRAL COMMAND con rmed
that a US Navy RQ-4A Broad
Area Maritime Surveillance —
Demonstration (BAMS-D) aircraft was
shot down by an Iranian surface-to-
air missile while operating over the
Strait of Hormuz on June 19. The
Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps
(IRGC) said it had downed a US drone
over Iranian airspace. It came at a
time of rising tensions in the region.
The US Navy selected the Block
20 RQ-4B Global Hawk as the
winner of the BAMS project in April
2008, assigning the designation
MQ-4C Triton. Prior to the selection,
Northrop Grumman delivered two
RQ-4As to the navy in 2005. These
supported the Global Hawk Maritime
Demonstration (GHMD). Although
based on the USAF’s early Block 10RQ-4As, the naval variants featured
an inverse synthetic aperture radar
(ISAR) with a maritime search mode.
The RQ-4As have been
continuously deployed to Al Dhafra,
United Arab Emirates, since February
2009 and are tasked to conduct
maritime surveillance missions.
The navy also acquired three Block
10 RQ-4As from the USAF in 2011.
Although initially reported as a
Triton, the aircraft downed in June
was one of the RQ-4As.
The navy intends to procure 65
Tritons by 2032. The rst operational
MQ-4C was delivered to VUP-19, Det
Point Mugu, California, on November
9, 2017. A second squadron will be
established when VUP-11 stands up
at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington
this year.US NavyUSAFUS NEWS [NEWS]
http://www.combataircraft.net // August 2019 11
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