Slovak F-16s to train at Morris ANGB

Morris Air National Guard Base, Tucson (AZ), has been selected by the Department of the US Air Force to receive up to nine Vzdušné sily Ozbrojených sil Slovenskej Republiky (SAF, Slovakian Air Force) F-16C Block 70 Fighting Falcons to be temporary stationed with the 162nd Fighter Wing.

The first four aircraft will arrive in the spring of 2024. These fighters will stay at Morris ANGB from 2024 through 2026. Addition of these aircraft with the 162nd FW requires an increase of almost thirty Air National Guard personnel at the Arizona air base.

The Slovak Air Force ordered fourteen F-16C Block 70 fighters. In April 2018, Scramble Magazine first wrote that the US State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Slovakia of these fighters for an estimated cost of USD 2,9 billion. On 29 September 2023, the first flight of F-16C serial 1001 took place at the Lockheed facilities at Greenville (SC).

Credit photo: Lockheed Martin