Campia Turzii, Romania -- Members of the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 403rd Wing deployed with members of regular Air Force and the F-16C Fighting Falcons to Campia Turzii, Romania, as a part of a Theater Security Package in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
The Airmen and aircraft are assigned to the 475th Fighter Squadron, 301st Fighter Wing, Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, and are deployed as the 457th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. Joining those airmen are 403rd Wing Reserve Citizen Airmen from the 5th and 12th Operational Weather Flights.
Maj. Molly Butler, 5th OWF commander, said this was an extremely short notice tasking which took a coordinated effort between the 5th and 12th Operational Weather Flights, the 403rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, 403rd Force Support Squadron and the 403rd Communications Flight to get the team out the door on time, and with the correct communications equipment.
Funded through the European Deterrence Initiative, the TSP provides a more robust U.S. military rotational presence in the European theater capable of deterring, and if required, responding to regional threats.
“The OWF team will be providing twice-daily weather briefings to the pilots before they take-off,” said Butler. “They will also be injecting weather inputs into the mission planning process and they will continually monitor the airspace weather conditions to provide updates to the squadron leadership.”
While in theater, these personnel and aircraft will participate in multiple readiness exercises alongside NATO allies and partners to strengthen interoperability and to demonstrate U.S. commitment to the security and stability of Europe.
“This is exciting for the OWFs because this is a new mission for us,” said Butler. “This is the first time our mission weather support capability has been tested in an expeditionary environment.”