, could be ignored like all the other politically correct names the heavies in Washington or SOUTHCOM gave these things.
Whatever.“The Colombians fly refurbished Kfir’s sold to them by Israel. They are older jets but are capable of Mach 2 and present a forward quarter threat. They also have a modified 767 tanker you guys may be getting gas from. The Panamanians have nothing more than light civil aircraft in their glorified police force, but the Air Guard is sending a Viper squadron from South Dakota and an F-15 squadron from New Orleans to give us some good training. They and the big wing tankers will be operating out of the old Howard Air Force Base at the southern end of the canal.”
Cool! Wilson thought as he and the other aviators murmured their approval. Hofmeister shifted gears.
“We also have riders here from the Operational Test and Evaluation Force staff who will be flying with you. They will be working with the guided missile destroyer USS Max Leslie which has a Fire Scout UAV detachment aboard, evaluating it for fleet interoperability. Part of that evaluation is to release inert practice ordnance on floating targets and smokes. They will be operating independently. Welcome aboard, gentlemen.”
Weed whispered to his friend, “Damn, was hoping to get a fun fighter weps hop with you instead of the test profile crap we have to fly.”
“Maybe we can work you in,” Wilson offered.
“Maybe, but the coke-bottle engineers on Mad Max have a test program the size of a phone book, testing every little tron in every condition. Hope it works out, but I think our dance card is full.”
Wilson nodded. He felt a twinge of sadness for Weed, his roommate when they were in the Ravens. Both had air-to-air kills from the action five years ago with Iran, but Wilson had two, and he was now a squadron commander. Weed had gone to routine test duty, primarily a desk job at a backwater staff where promotion was not assured. It wasn’t fair, and Wilson was grateful Weed didn’t resent him for it. Hoped he didn’t. At least Weed was flying.
To move on to a new subject, Hofmeister changed the slide behind him.
“While out there you may come across go-fast boats, what we know as cigarette boats. These guys are carrying two to three tons of product, anything from cocaine to marijuana, and they are sometimes serviced by trawlers that they rendezvous with mid-ocean. If you see a go-fast, report it back to the ship: time, lat/long, course and speed, yadda yadda yadda. When these things get cranked up on a smooth sea, they can get up to