RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 510th Fighter Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy, arrived at Pardubice Airport to participate in a hot-pit refueling during Ample Strike. A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 155th Air Refueling Wing, Nebraska Air National Guard, is also participating in the exercise. Ample Strike is a Czech Republic-led, multi-national live-fire exercise that offers advanced air and land integration training to Joint Terminal Attack Controllers in coordination with fighter aircraft.
The KC-135 aircraft will participate by providing aerial refueling and the 510th Fighter Generation squadron will exercise Integrated Combat Turn operations. Integrated Combat Turns are an aircraft generation tool used during Agile Combat Employment operations. They allow for munitions loading and refueling to take place simultaneously while the engines are still operating. Integrated Combat Turns reduce overall combat turn time and rapidly return Fighter aircraft to the fight.
The U.S. routinely conducts high-end, multi-domain exercises around the world in order to enhance interoperability and build operational readiness and capabilities of our own forces as Partner nations and entities. By conducting these operations within the European theater, we ensure our forces in the region are appropriately trained and postured to rapidly respond to potential threats or crises if needed, both independently and in cooperation with our Allies and Partners.
Relationships are key to ensuring our forces are synched with our Allies and Partners. By consistently training alongside them, we greatly improve our overall interoperability and ability to respond to contingencies. The enduring relationships that have resulted are vital to maintaining regional and global stability, and demonstrating NATO Allies’ abilities to address risks before they become crises.
Participation in Ample Strike highlights U.S. dedication to our security commitments with our NATO Alliance and global partners. A key pillar of our overall deterrence approach is a campaign of high-end, all-domain exercises, which enhance interoperability and build the readiness and capabilities of our own forces as well as our Allies and Partners.
For more information, please call +49 (0) 6371-47-6558 or e-mail usafepao.pao@us.af.mil. If after duty hours, please call +49 (0) 1624-25-5428 or e-mail usafepa.pastaffdutyofficer@us.af.mil.