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Scramble 469
following units and locations: 12th FTW with tail code RA at
Randolph AFB (TX), 14th FTW with tail code CB at Columbus
AFB (MS), 47th FTW with tail code XL at Laughlin AFB (TX),
71st FTW with tail code VN at Vance AFB (OK), and resort-
ing under the 12th FTW, the 451st FTS at Naval Air Station
Pensacola (FL).
This year it will be the third year, since Draken International
started to provide adversary support for the USAF. Having
their headquarters in Lakeland (FL), Draken International is
mostly to be found exercising with the USAF in the South-
western part of the United States. In 2015, it all started at
Nellis AFB (NV), by using former Royal New Zealand Air Force
and BAE Systems (T)A-4K and A-4N Skyhawk fighter jets to
replicate a numerous of threat types for the USAF. Nowadays
they maintain a sizeable presence at Nellis with the venerable
A-4 Skyhawk and Czech built L-159 ALCA. Normally, Draken
International is executing daily flight schedules of 18-24
commercial Adversary Air (ADAIR) missions, in support of
training requirements for the USAF Weapons School, Opera-
tional Test missions, as well as Red Flag exercises.
Recently it became known that Draken International, under
the authority of the 57th Adversary Tactics Group at Nellis,
now offers additional adversary sorties to Luke AFB’s 56th
Fighter Wing assets when the USAF Weapons School require-
ments permit. With the distance between Luke and Nellis
being roughly 275 miles, this is without having to deploy
additional aircraft and personnel. Draken International is
also expanding its area of responsibility to the Utah Test and
Training Range (UTTR), providing direct adversary support
to the operational F-35A Lightning-IIs from the 388th Fighter
Wing based at Hill AFB (UT).
Over the past several months, Draken International has
already flown 300+ sorties dedicated to contesting America’s
5th Generation fleet of F-35As from Luke and Hill. The capac-
ity of Draken International will continue to grow, providing
a direct influence over combat readiness training, which
ultimately saves taxpayer money and mitigates the impact
caused by the pilot shortage within the USAF.
In anticipation of possible future summer blazes, four USAF
C-130H Airlift Wings operating the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire
Fighting System, or shortly MAFFS, started a weeklong train-
ing on 23 April 2018. The year’s training, sponsored by the
USDA Forest Service at Sacramento McClellan Airport (CA),
made up an Air Expeditionary Group that consisted of three
Air National Guard units and one Air Force Reserve unit. It
was stated that training with all four USAF MAFFS wings
alongside the US Forest Service, CAL FIRE and other wildland
firefighting agencies would provide a significant opportunity
as a preparation for the 2018 wildland fire season. The USDA
Forest Service’s large MAFFS equipment can be easily rolled
into the back of a C-130H Hercules aircraft, and can drop
up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in six seconds
through a nozzle on the rear left side of the plane.
The past years there has been a lot of shuffling with C-130H
units, aircraft and tasks. For now, the following units are cer-
tified to use the MAFFS system: California ANG’s 115th AS/
146th AW, Nevada ANG’s 192nd AS/ 152nd AW, Wyoming
ANG’s 187th AS/ 153rd AW and AFRC’s 731st AS/ 302nd
AW. During the past decade, military C-130s equipped with
MAFFS systems, delivered more than 8 million gallons of fire
retardant to aid in the suppression of wildfires around the
United States. C-130H MAFFS aircraft are activated to supple-
ment commercial airtankers contracted by the USDA Forest
Service during periods of high wildfire activity throughout
the nation.
Transiting through Morón Air Base on 22 and 23 April 2018,
were twelve F-16C Fighting Falcons from the Oklahoma Air
National Guard’s 125th Fighter Squadron/ 138th Fighter
Wing. Although believed to be assigned to the US Central
Command (USCENTCOM) area of operations, and normally
based at Tulsa International Airport/ Air National Guard
Base (OK), it was not stated where the F-16s were heading to
or came from. The following OK coded F-16s were noted at
Morón: 89-2017, 89-2022, 89-2034, 89-2037, 89-2040, 89-2073,
89-2076, 89-2138, 89-2141, 90-0713, 90-0719 and 90-0738.
Also seen transiting through Morón Air Base on 22 April
2018, and updating Scramble 468, regarding the Raptor
deployment news, were another four Lockheed-Martin F-22A
Raptors from the 95th Fighter Squadron/ 325th Fighter Wing.
Normally based at Tyndall AFB (FL), and tasked primarily
with the training of Raptor pilots, these were presumably
In the near future this KC-46A frame will be flying for the USAF as 15-46008, revealed by the line number 1100 making it frame 41856. (Seattle-
Everett (WA), 7 March 2018, Martin Uleman)
