For two weeks in June, six Texas Air National Guard F-16s flew with Czech Air Force fighters from Cáslav air base, 60 miles (96km) southeast of Prague in Central Bohemia. Alan Warnes was there.
Exercise Report
Sky Avenger 2018
The Sky Avenger 2018 manoeuvres saw F-16s training with Vzdušné síly Armády eské republiky (VzS A R, Air Component of the Army of the Czech Republic) JAS 39C/D Gripens and L-159 Advanced Light Combat Aircraft (ALCAs), taking part in composite air operations (COMAOs) and local flying training work.
The highly experienced pilots from the 149th Fighter Wing (FW) ‘Gunfighters’ at Joint Base San Antonio arrived as part of the US-Czech strategic alliance. In 1993 the US Air National Guard’s State Partnership Program paired ANG units with allied nations across the globe. There are 73 such security partnerships involving 76 nations, and the Czech Republic partnered with Texas and Nebraska. Both states’ ANG units last visited in September 2009 and returned this year to celebrate the alliance’s 25th anniversary.
The four single-seat F-16Cs and two dual-seat F-16Ds arrived at áslav on June 15 after a nine-hour flight from Andrews Air Force Base, Washington. From there, they headed out over t…
