Liberty and Wyvern Airmen participate in joint training

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  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Following close on the heels of the 31st Fighter Wing's herculean efforts in the first sortie surge of fiscal year 2015 last week, F-15 Strike Eagles from the 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK are training alongside members of the 31st Fighter Wing this week, here.

The Strike Eagles and Airmen from Liberty Wing will train with the Wyverns of Team Aviano for the next 5 days.

The F-15 is no stranger to the operators or to the maintainers of the 31st FW. In 1974, when the Triple Nickel--one of the 31st Fighter Wing's two fighter squadrons--was moved to Luke AFB, Ariz., it was chosen to receive the Air Force's newest fighter, the F-15 Eagle. The 555th, exactly 20 years to the day, April 1, 1994 transferred to Aviano AB, Italy, and the 31st began maintaining and flying the F-16C. Historically, F-15 and F-16 maintainers and aircrews have come together to train on joint strike, combat air patrol, and other missions.

The training this week will dovetail perfectly with last week's wing sortie surge. Average sortie generation and execution rates are less than 200 for the 31st. In just 4 days last week, the wing completed over 300.

"Dramatic increases in sortie generation rates provide us with a critical environment to simulate the demands of contingency operations," said Col. Brian Beers, the 31st Maintenance Group commander. "Aside from actual combat operations, these surges are the best tests of our training and competence,
and we knocked this one out of the park."

Synergy is reached when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and the synergy of this surge reflected that of a symphony played by a world class philharmonic. In this performance, the maintainer played first chair trumpet. 31 MXG maintainers worked tirelessly to maintain a 100% aircraft mission ready rate throughout the surge.

The other orchestral components--pilots, life supporters, air traffic controllers, logisticians, and joint tactical air controllers--integrated flawlessly into the surge as well.

"The first tenet of Aviano's mission is " 'Deter Aggression,' " said Col. Anthony Abernathy, the 31st Operations Group commander. "As America's only fighter wing south of the Alps, our combatant commanders rely on us to be able to rapidly and efficiently generate combat airpower. This week we demonstrated the ability of the 31st FW to do just that."

Whether in readiness to execute a high ops tempo or in demonstrated capability to seamlessly integrate with joint and coalition partners, Team Aviano has started FY15 with a flourish.