TGIF From Sweden, joined Apr 2008, 273 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 4975 times:
Swedish Radio is today reporting that the Swedish Airforce will send Gripen fighters to participate in a Red Flag exercise in Las Vegas (guessing it will be at Nellis AFB?) this summer. This made the news simultaneously as reports that less money will be spent by the government on the Air Force.
Quote: Excercise in USA replaces flight time in Sweden
This summer 7 Gripen fighters and 90 employees from F21 will participate in an advanced exercise in USA, Red Flag. Simultaneously, the Defence must safe money and other pilots are given very little time in the air.
- We will use the wing that has been prepared for the Nordic Battle Group...says Lennart Thomsen (Chief of staff at "air technical staff")
The rest of the article goes on debating whether the money is better spent allowing less experienced pilots flying at home (but thats the boring part, lets focus on the fun part...)
What other nations and fighters will participate? It would be nice to see them face some newer equipments, EF, F-22 etc (all though getting their asses whooped all over the place). The forces they met in the Red Flag Alaska exercise 2006 were, from what I've heard and read, inferior.
The Swedish article states that the $5Million could have funded 1000 flight hours at home instead...
Our government has been loudly proclaiming that we will double our international responsibilities, while slashing funds leaving the armed forces in a desperate situation trying to make ends meet.
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