Fighter jets from the South Dakota Air Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing are roaring out of the Sioux City Air National Guard base this week as part a reediness exercise for the Sioux Falls, SD based unit.
According to Lt. Col Daniel Sanders, a pilot with the South Dakota Air Guard the intent of the exercise is to test the unit’s ability to relocate and quickly begin to generate sorties.
“We would normally like to do a lot of detailed planning to make it smooth move, we want to see how quickly we can do it in a short time,” Sanders said.
During the exercise the South Dakota jets are departing and returning to the Sioux City Air Guard base each day.
“In addition to picking up and moving we are also testing the aircrew’s ability to go take part in a large force employment,” Sanders added.
With only a portion of the unit’s F-16s in Sioux City the idea of exercises is to show that the South Dakota unit can quickly disperse aircraft from their home base and continue to operate in a deployed environment.
The Sioux City airport is home to the Iowa Air Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing where they fly the much quieter KC-135 Air Refueling aircraft.
The timing of the exercise happen to take place while Sioux City’s 185th is participating in a similar mobility exercise this week in Gulfport, MS. The departure of aircraft from Sioux City cleared additional ramp space to allow plenty of room for the Sioux Falls team to operate during the week long exercise.