F-16 of 174th Fighter Wing
SYRACUSE (AP) -- New York's renowned Air National Guard 174th Fighter Wing will take to the skies one final time in their F-16s. The Syracuse-based unit will play the "bad guys" in a major Air Force training mission beginning this weekend at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
The 174th will go head-to-head against opposing forces using the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft, the F-22 Raptor. The "Red Flag" training exercise uses live ammunition for bombing exercises and combat simulations. The trip marks the fighters' last deployment before the unit starts to operate unmanned Reaper aircraft in 2010.
The unit's heralded history includes taking part in the Berlin Crisis in the early 1960s and flying combat missions in the Middle East.
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