Above: Luftwaffe
Eurofi ghters join
an Arizona ‘Viper’
for close air
support training
over the Czech
Republic.
Left top to
bottom: Luftwaffe
exchange pilot Lt
Col Lorenz ‘Enzo’
Schaffelhofer
‘steps’ to a jet
with his wingman.
Final planning
for a CAS
mission during
‘Ample Strike’.and Nebraska National Guards have the
Czech Republic as a partner nation and
we in Arizona have Kazakhstan. In 2018,
the Czech Republic asked for support
for two separate exercises. One was the
smaller ‘Sky Avenger’ exercise, which was
supported by the 149th Fighter Wing of
the Texas ANG, and the other was ‘Ample
Strike’, which we were able to support at
the request of Texas.’
The 195th FS sent six Block 30 F-16s
including one two-seat D-model and more
than 100 personnel including 22 pilots. It
took a pair of fully loaded C-17As to bring
in the necessary kit to support the jets.
‘The Czech military was easy to work with,’
said Dowd. ‘We operated out of Náměšť,
which is a helicopter base and had never
received an aircraft the size of a C-17
before, so the US embassy and the Czech
Ministry of Defense worked together to
get the air eld tested and approved to
receive our cargo.’ The base o ers a 7,500ft
runway and is home to Mi-24V and Mi-35
‘Hinds’ plus Mi-171SHs.
‘The overall purpose of ‘Ample Strike’
is an air-to-ground exercise,’ Dowd
continued. ‘The Czechs hosted aircraft and
JTAC teams from 18 other countries while
setting up areas of operation across the
country to enable a variety of advanced
scenarios. A great deal of this exerciseEXERCISE REPORT // ‘AMPLE STRIKE’
62 December 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net