Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/713424
The "air part" of the excercises was mainly based on Polish and American units and, in many aspects, was quite impressive. This part of Anakonda-16 started with the episode of Swift Response 2016 that concerned a mass transport of equipment and paratroopers from various NATO countries to drop zones located in Northern Poland. The main airborne assault operation was conducted near Toruń – thirty cargo planes from Poland, US and UK were used. The main striking force was the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division (currently serving the role of GRF – Global Response Force) supported by Polish 6th Air Assault Bri- gade and British 16th Air Assault Brigade. Soldiers (as well as equipment – 105 mm guns or HMMWVs) were transported to the drop zones as a part of Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) on boards of C-17's, while their loading area was the Pope Army Airfield. The long, over nine-hour flight performed by crews from bases of McChord, Charleston, Elmendorf, and Hickam, with the support of tankers KC-135R and KC-10, was for the Polish and British soldiers the longest airdrop flight in history. Over Poland, the transatlantic air armada was joined by C-130 and C-295M from the 3rd Transport Aviation Wing (the loading was performed in Kraków) and British C-130J from the 30th Division of RAF (loading in Ramstein) with remaining paratroopers from the 6th and 16th Brigades. At the same time, seven C130J from the 86th Airlift Wing from Ramstein dropped a group of several hundred paratroopers from the 173rd Brigade sup- ported by Italians from the Folgore Brigade on the territory of the 21st Tactical Military Airbase in Świdwin – those soldiers had a key role in the main scenario of Anakonda-16. Fightersoperated from three locations – the 32nd Tactical Military Airbase in Łask, where Polish F-16 were supported by several planes from the 31st Tactical Military Airbase in Poznań-Krzesiny, from the USAF 31st Fighter Wing of, and from the ANG 138th Fighter Wing. Americans appear in Łask from time to time as a part of subsequent Av-Det (Avi- ation Detachment – rotating presence of USAF in the 32nd and 33rd Bases functioning since 2013; each cycle usually lasts for several weeks). The second was the 22nd Tactical Military Airbase in Malbork, where the Polish Fulcrums were joined by six modernized planes from the 23rd Base and two Bulgarian Fulcrums from the 3rd Military Airbase (in the last months, Polish military cooperation with Bulgaria was reinforced; as a proof of that, contracts were signed for repairs of RD-33 engines by Polish plants, as well a promise was made to modernize Bulgarian Fulcrums to resemble Polish ones with which Bulgarian pilots could get familiar during the Polish visit to Graf Ignatievo in September 2015). www.fragoutmag.com