Programs

Iowa F-16s In Kandahar

By SSgt. Heather Skinkle Posted 4 June 2012

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The move to Kandahar from Bagram involved relocating an entire F-16 operation that had been flying out of Bagram since 2007. The logistical challenge consisted of quickly moving 600 personnel and more than 170 tons of equipment more than 500 miles.

Making base procedures in Kandahar compatible with F-16 operations required that all checklists, publications, academics, ground training, briefings, intelligence processes, supplements to Air Force instructions, and many other operating procedures be redone to address F-16 operations.

The 124th EFS pilots flew a total of 2,668 combat hours in 680 combat sorties in their Block 30 F-16s during the deployment, which covered sixty-one consecutive days of air tasking orders. More impressively, the unit garnered a 100 percent completion rate, meaning that no sorties were lost because of needed maintenance actions.

Approximately half of the combat sorties flown by the 124th EFS were night missions.

The primary mission of Iowa F-16s in Afghanistan was close air support.

While all Block 30 F-16s in Air National Guard units have been equipped with color moving maps, the 124th EFS was the first Air National Guard unit to customize its displays for operations in Afghanistan. The maps were supplemented with information on aerial refueling tracks, target areas, forward operating bases, combat outposts, and boundaries of controlling agencies.

The Iowa Air Guard was the first F-16 unit to use the GBU-38 Version 5 in combat. This latest version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, has a bomb casing made of a unique carbon fiber blend. The casing reduces the potential of collateral damage by inhibiting blast fragments from flying outward.

F-16s from the 124th flew with AIM-120 missiles and various combinations of 500-pound JDAMs, including Versions 1 and 5 of the GPS guided GBU-38 and the laser guided GBU-54.

Aircraft and personnel returned to the unit’s home base at Des Moines Airport, Iowa, 23 April 2012.

Maj. Tony Bradley greets two of his sons on the flight line of the 132nd Fighter Wing (132FW), Des Moines, Iowa, after returning home from deployment in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Pilots, maintainers, and personnel from the 132nd Fighter Wing, the Iowa Air National Guard F-16 unit in Des Moines, deployed to Afghanistan in February 2012. The unit, redesignated as the 124th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, or EFS, was originally slated to deploy to Bagram AB just north of the capital of Kabul. However, shortly after the F-16s arrived at Bagram, the 124th EFS had to relocate operations to Kandahar AB in the southern part of Afghanistan. The reassignment marked the first time a US F-16 unit operated from Kandahar.

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