BALAD, Iraq, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Running short of available frontline aircraft, the U.S. Air Force is rotating fighters from U.S. air bases to Iraq.
Armed Forces Print Network reported from Iraq's Balad air base Sept. 23 that Balad's 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing replaced its entire F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet this month with planes brought in from air bases throughout the United States.
A 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron operations officer, Maj. Leah Fry, said that the transfer was necessary to maintain a "healthy" force and military capability: "In a four-month rotation here at Balad, our F-16s fly the equivalent of a full year's flying at home station."
The changeover is part of the air and space expeditionary force rotation: new people, new jets.
Balad's 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing exchanged F-16 Fighting Falcons from Hill Air Force Base, Utah for aircraft from Cannon AFB, New Mexico, while National Guard F-16s from Alabama and Illinois were replaced by F-16 Fighting Falcons from South Dakota, Michigan, New York and Washington, D.C.
The deployment transfers are designed to lessen environmental and operational demands on the aircraft, which create maintenance problems for the F-16 Falcons. By initiating the transfers, the Air Force is flattening out the usage strain across its entire F-16 Falcon fleet.
