April 13, 2004 (by Eric L. Palmer) -
USMC F-18D's from VMFA-AW-225, Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan, mix it up with USAF F-16s from the 80th Fighter Squadron, Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.
An article from the
Stars and Stripes is a good view of what happens in these exercises.
Quoting the article:
"Most of our training ... is against other F-16s," said Lt. Col. Kevin Schneider, 80th Fighter Squadron commander. "This exercise ... is an awesome opportunity to fight against somebody with different capabilities, different characteristics, maybe disadvantages, compared to ours, so it shows our pilots how to fight different aircraft." It also gives them two solid weeks to focus on dogfighting skills, Schneider said. "We practice it on a daily basis, but we don't focus on it for two weeks straight," he said. In wartime, the pilots' mission would be to bomb and strafe ground targets, but enemy fighters jumping them always is a possibility. "We need to be able to fight our way into the target or fight our way out of the target," Schneider said, "and deal with the air threat as appropriate."
