Pigs practice killin' MiGs

Published June 17, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Brian Stives
366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office

MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho -- More than 200 members of the 390th Fighter Squadron "Wild Boars" recently returned from a training exercise in Shaikh Isa, Bahrain.

The multi-national exercise, Initial Link 08, included forces from the Gulf Coast Coalition states, which are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as Jordan and Italy and ran from May 9 to 18.

The 390th FS sent six F-15C Eagles with associated operations support and the 366th Fighter Wing sent approximately 200 additional Gunfighters (mostly maintenance and support). The flying participants, other than the Boars, included U.S. Navy Hornets and E-2s, Bahraini F-16s and Alpha jets, Kuwaiti F-18s, Quatari Mirage 2000s, United Arab Emirates Mirage 2000s and F-16 Block 60s, and Saudi Arabia F-15Cs.

"The objective was to foster United States relations with GCC countries while improving our interoperability and communications to aid in cooperative operations," said Lt. Col. David Cool, 390th FS commander.

"These exercises activate the GCC joint military cooperation strategies and allow for exchange of military know-how," said Duaij bin Salman al-Khalifa, Royal Bahrain air force Chief of Staff.

The Boar's actions in the exercise included performing basic fighter maneuvers, where they flew one against one within visual range fights, like dog fighting. The exercise concluded with 42 "blue" aircraft from four different countries flying an offensive counter air mission into simulated enemy land, against 18 adversaries from three countries. The same countries may have had players on both sides to gain understanding of both offensive and defensive maneuvers; this is known as a Large Force Engagement, or LFE.

"It is always important to be able to train and fight with our allies to help each other improve and strengthen overall relations with our coalition partners," said Colonel Cool. "I'm very proud of each and every person that went over there and proud to be associated with such a class group of Airmen. Every one of them represented the Boars, the 366th FW and the U.S. Air Force with style."

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