BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The 140th Logistics Readiness Squadron loaded up a C-17 Globemaster III from the Mississippi Air National Guard 183rd Airlift Squadron in order to transport supplies needed by the 120th Fighter Squadron on deployment in Hungary July 12, 2016, on Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.
The 120th FS is in Hungary to participate in the European Reassurance Initiative, as a show of force as well as to do flight training with the Hungarian Air Force.
“We are working with the Hungarian airfield management and training them on a couple different things in regards to their pilots and working with their Joint Terminal Attack Controllers,” said Capt. David Overstreet, 140th LRS wing deployment officer.
Four different chalks, which are supply loads, are being transported to Hungary in order to support the 120th FS. The different Air National Guard units that are participating in the transport of equipment will pick up supplies at Buckley AFB and then fly to Hungary. All in all, the transport of supplies and equipment to Hungary is scheduled to take around 15 hours.
“Anything that it takes to launch sorties is being transported to Hungary,” said Andrew Mills, 460th LRS airlift operations supervisor.
This training operation, which will last three months, took a year to plan and begin to execute.
“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Heavy Airlift Wing, a partnership of NATO countries bought 3 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and share the flight hours, the U.S. being one of those partners,” Overstreet said. “We had to go in there and bring our own communications, bring in our own arresting gear cables and all the things that you need to operate fighters which is different than operating heavy aircraft.”
The 120th FS will be the first time that fighters are operating out of Pápa Air Base.
“It gives us more capabilities,” Overstreet said. “The U.S. knows that we can operate not only heavy aircraft out of there but also fighters if need be.”