First F-16s begin permanent move from base

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
A flight from the 389th departs Mountain Home AFB never to return. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Dana Hill)

The 366th Fighter Wing began the first phase of its F-16 drawdown when five jets from the 389th Fighter Squadron departed Mountain Home AFB for good around 8 a.m. Thursday.

The departure is part of the wing's realignment from an F-16, F-15C and F-15E base to an all F-15E Strike Eagle installation by 2011.

The move, outlined in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendation, is also part of the Air Force initiative to become a "smarter and leaner" force by consolidating its F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft.

Mountain Home Air Force Base was chosen to become an F-15E installation because of its premier training range, which is suited for air-to-ground, low-level and air-to-air flight training.

The first of 18 new F-15E aircraft are scheduled to begin arriving from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, in December and the last jet will land by June 2007.

The drawdown of all the F-16s at the base (configured in the CJ "Viper" model of the Fighting Falcon for suppression of enemy air defenses), will conclude next March, when the 389th's flag will go down. The squadron's F-16s are being sent all over the country to fill out other squadrons. Some will go to McEntire Air National Guard Base in South Carolina and some to Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, Nev.

As part of the BRAC process, by 2011, the wing also will distribute its F-15C Eagles fleet to Nellis AFB and Jacksonville Air Guard Station in Florida.

The original timeline for the changes approved by the 2005 BRAC commission called for the F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft from Elmendorf AFB to arrive in 2009, with the loss of the F-16CJ and F-15C aircraft in 2001.

That process has been altered, however, in order to provide ramp space at Elmendorf for the new F-22 Raptor squadron that is being assigned there.

The Air Force also is in the process of negotiating with the nation of Singapore to bring a squadron of its new F-15SG aircraft to Mountain Home AFB for a "permanent" beddown of a training squadron of the Royal Singapore Air Force here.

If negotiations are completed successfully, that squadron, featuring the most advanced of the export versions of the F-15, could begin arriving in late spring or early summer of next year.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: