Colombian Air Force supports US Navy Growlers

The Colombian Air Force supported the U.S. Navy during the U.S. Air Force-led air-to-air combat exercise Red Flag 19-2 from March 11-22.

The Colombian Air Force brought their Multi-MissionTransport Tanker Jupiter 767 to refuel the U.S. Navy’s EA-18G Growlers for theduration of the exercise. The Colombian MMTT Jupiter 767 is the only aircraftcapable to conduct air-to-air refueling missions for the Growler during RedFlag 19-2 due to different air-to-air refueling systems available for theexercise.

The U.S. Air Force’s refueling aircraft participating in RedFlag 19-2 are boom-operated air-to-air refueling systems and the Growlersutilize a drogue air-to-air refueling system, which the Colombian MMTT Jupiter767 provides.

“We’re an expeditionary Growler squadron so that means we’reland-based, so most of my pilots’ experience is based off tanking off of otherF-18s (Super Hornet) or Air Force assets. In certain theaters of operation thatmay not always be the case,” said Navy Cmdr. Chris Nesset, Electronic AttackSquadron 134 commander. “So the ability to operate with a partner country in atraining environment and go slow using a different tanking platform to get thatexperience prior to any real world operations is fantastic.”

Red Flag is America’s premier integration air-to-air combattraining exercise that focuses on readiness, partnership and integration forexpeditionary operations.

“After last year’s (Red Flag 18-3) exercise, our leadershipdecided to stay close by inviting the Colombians back as soon as we could,”said U.S. Air Force Col. Michael Mathes, 414 Combat Training Squadroncommander. “The most feasible way to do that was with the tanker visit based onthe other forces being engaged in ongoing operations.”

Red Flag 19-2 has a diversity of participants from aroundthe globe to include Colombia, Belgium, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore,United Arab Emirates and U.S. joint forces. The Colombian MMTT Jupiter 767 isconducting day and night refueling missions exclusively with the U.S. NavyGrowlers.

Colombian Air Force Col. Kerly Sanchez, Colombian Air ForceRed Flag delegation commander, expressed excitement in participating in RedFlag by saying that it’s important for the Colombian Air Force to maintainconsistent training with NATO partners to increase interoperability andcontinue to be a good partner to their allies. Colombia is the first and onlyLatin American country that is a NATO Global Partner.

“NATO is one of many partnerships that we support,” Mathessaid. “While not directly involved, the fact that we’ve already built trainingexpectations and interoperability here allows us to stand up coalitions whencalled because we can’t really predict when and where we will fight next.”

This is the Colombian Air Force’s third time participatingin a Red Flag exercise. They previously participated in 2012 and 2018 withtheir Kfir fighter jets and MMTT Jupiter 767. This is the first Red Flagexercise the MMTT Jupiter 767 is participating to solely refuel U.S. aircraft.

“We’re ready to support these type of exercises, and anyother time we can support our partner nations in this capacity,” Sanchez said.