Kunsan LFE / IPUG - 25% Complete

Every few months at Kunsan we have what is called a Large Formation Exercise (LFE) similar to those I flew during my time in Belgium at TLP last October. They involve many different types of aircraft flying together in a simulated war scenario "fighting" into "bad guy land", shooting the "bad guys" who are airborne enroute to the target area and the doing the same off target back to "good guy land." Today we had one of those LFEs which included 1 KC-135 tanker, 8 F-15Cs, 16 F-16Cs, 4 F-18D Hornets, 4 A-10Cs and the 8 more F-16Cs flying as the "bad guys." So, 40 fighter jets and 1 tanker makes for some good flying. Sadly I was working in the tower today, but I snapped some good pics and video for everyone's viewing pleasure. Later tonight at the Officer's Club we'll get together, talk fighter pilot talk (with our hands) and discuss how it all went.

A quick update on my IPUG; I've now completed 3 of the 12 required flights, so things are moving along...25% of the way done. The base had a week long operational readiness inspection (ORI) 20-24 April, so I lost a week of IPUG there. After Lana and I return from the Philippines I'll have a few more IPUG flights before going to Kadena Air Base, Japan the first week of June to hopefully shoot a real AIM-120 air-to-air missile (I'm keeping my fingers crossed since there's not enough for everyone to shoot one). I also plan to do some dissimilar air combat training (DACT) against the F-15Cs stationed at the base for an IPUG ride or two!

It's time to finish laundry, get organized and pack for the Philippines...Lana's on her way to the Munich airport as I'm typing this and I'll meet her in Seoul early tomorrow morning! Check back for pics from our Philippine trip later this month.

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