KONYA, Turkey, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. and Turkish Air Forces recently concluded a bilateral aerial exercise over Konya, Turkey, called Operation "Anatolian Eagle."
Air Force Print News reported Nov. 23 that the U.S. Air Force's 22nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, sent F-16 Fighting Falcons and more than 200 airmen to Konya for the two-week exercise, which ended Nov. 17.
Lt. Col. Matt Chesnutt, 22nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander said, "The Turkish Air Force almost exclusively flies F-16s ... so we get to compare and contrast how they fly their F-16s and how we fly ours."
Some of the most important training during the Anatolian Eagle exercise was the opportunity for U.S. pilots to operate against mobile surface-to-air missile, or SAM, sites. During training in Germany, the 22nd EFS operates against static SAM sites, but the Turkish exercise allowed the U.S. pilots to sharpen skills against mobile SAM sites. An added advantage of training in central Anatolia is that the landscape is similar to much of that throughout the Middle East, providing realistic scenarios to both Turkish and American aircrews.
