Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Air Crews Can Expect Busy Training Year in Europe: General | Military.com

Air Crews Can Expect Busy Training Year in Europe: General | Military.com

U.S. airmen will see more training exercises with NATO counterparts this year as part of an effort to support allies amid increased Russian military activity in the region.

Units under U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa should expect a drill boost beginning this spring, according to the head of the command.

"[We are] working to maximize the number of training events we have this spring all the way through the summer, but we're also careful not to overload the troopers with training events that might not be fruitful for what we expect they might have to do," Gen. Tod Wolters said in a recent interview with Military.com.

"We anticipate in the areas of strike superiority, surveillance, rapid global mobility and command and control that we'll have a wide array of exercises here in the European region," he added.

That means the Air Force -- with help from National Guard and Reserve units -- will bring in a number of different aircraft to the region, from intelligence and surveillance planes to fighters and bombers and airlifters.

In addition, there might be even more personnel rotations into the region