The Aviano Vipers have started training in LFA 17 this week.
On Aug. 28, 2020, 16x F-16CM/DM Fighting Falcon jets of the 31st Fighter Wing, based at Aviano Air Base, in northeastern Italy, deployed to RAF Lakenheath, UK.
Among all the other things, the Aviano F-16s, belonging to the 510th Fighter Squadron “Buzzards” and 555th FS “Triple Nickel”, have already taken part in close air support training with the 321st Special Tactics Squadron, the 19th Regiment Royal Artillery and the 2nd Air Support Operations Squadron; have participated in Point Black 20-4, a Large Force Exercise with more than 50 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force; and are expected to operate from the base in Suffolk, home to the F-15s of the 48th FW, for about one month.
Beginning on Sept. 15, 2020, the Vipers have also started flying low altitude in the Lake District Low Flying Area: a 2-ship flight, callsign “Venom”, was spotted in LFA17. Then, on the following day, two 2-ships and one F-16D, operated in the area using radio callsigns “Cobra 11”, “Sabre 11” and “Banshee 11”.
With 4,347 sq. miles of airspace available, which include Cumbria, East North Yorkshire, and North Lancashire, LFA 17 is one of the LFAs where British and allied combat aircraft can train flying as low as 250 feet (even lower over open water).
The images in this post, taken by photographer Simon Pearson-Cougill, show the F-16s of the 555th and 510th FS zipping low through the valleys earlier this week.
As a side note, the 510th and 555th FS should, in the future, be joined at Aviano AB, by the 480th FS “Warhawks” from Spangdahlem, Germany: on July 29, 2020 during a joint briefing with the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten, and Gen. Tod D. Wolters, commander of the U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the relocation of the Warhawks’ 28x F-16CM-50s to Aviano as part of the plan to reduce military personnel currently stationed in Germany.
