Photo By Scott Sturkol | An F-35A Lightning II with the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing at...... read more read more
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An F-35A Lightning II with the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing at Madison supported an airshow 'dress rehearsal' event July 27, 2023, over Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport at Fort McCoy, Wis.
According to its Air Force fact sheet, the F-35, is the U.S. Air Force’s latest fifth-generation fighter, and it will replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs.
The F-35 is an agile, versatile, high-performance, 9g-capable multirole fighter that combines stealth, sensor fusion, and unprecedented situational awareness.
The event, which was a practice for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, Wis., included Soldiers and Airmen and included field artillery, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, an F-35A Lightning II, and a KC-135R Stratotanker.
Lt. Col. Dan Allen, commander of the 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment of the Army National Guard, said the “dress rehearsal” at the Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport was a complex and coordinated event.
“It began with the F-35 … coming across the airfield conducting what we call suppression of enemy air defenses,” Allen said in a video by Greg Mason with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office. “That was followed by insertion, or air assault, of two Black Hawks from the 147th with 120th Field Artillery to fire off their 105 Howitzers followed by four aircraft (with Soldiers) who conducted actions on an objective.
“After that, the 147th had two medevac assets come in, and (they) conducted a live hoist simulating an injured casualty. After that, there was an air refueling pass with the … KC-135 and the F-35.”
Allen added that during the continued action the F-35 also completed multiple passes simulating close air support.
“It was an amazing thing to see all the coordination action sequence and timing that all came together to have all these elements operating in a closed space to truly demonstrate all the Wisconsin National Guard capabilities,” Allen said.
Fort McCoy was established in 1909 and its motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2023 15:50 |
| Story ID: | 451357 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 664 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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