Four fighters arrived in Poland together
with support elements which were
transported on board of C-130 Hercules
cargo planes. Portuguese fighters will
stay in Poland for two months and will
join the current rotation of NATO BAP,
the Polish F-16s and German Eurofighter
Typhoons.
For 22.BLT it is another round of allied
operations. In 2014-2015 base was
home for French Dassault Rafale and
Mirage 2000s and Dutch and Belgian
F-16s. Portuguese will take part in the
NATO BAP for the fifth time.
Portugal Air Forces is F-16 Fighting
Falcon user since 1994 and the total
number of F-16A/B Block 15 fighters is
45. Twenty of them was brand new (part
of payment was lease of Lajes Air Base,
Azores to USAF) and the rest came from
USAF overtstocks. 27 fighters upgraded
during MLU program are still being used.
The rest was removed from service and
some of them are going to be sold off to
Romania.
www.fragoutmag.com
