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Great explorers and navigators underscore the proud history of Portugal. More than 500 years ago, four Portuguese sailing ships led by Admiral Vasco da Gama navigated the uncharted waters around the Cape of Good Hope to open the sea route to India and the spices of the East. Portuguese navigators continued that long-distance legacy in March 2000, when pilots from the Portugal Air Force ferried six F-16s from the 201st Squadron at Monte Real Air Base over the Atlantic to the desert in Nevada. This air journey brought Portugal’s F-16 pilots riches from the West as they explored the Red Flag exercises at Nellis AFB for the first time in Portugal’s history.

"Red Flag is excellent training for our personnel," notes Lt. Col. Carlos Gromicho, PoAF detachment commander for the exercise. Red Flag, just one of the advanced training programs administered by the Air Warfare Center at Nellis every year, provides air crews from the United States, allied nations, and coalition forces with superior combat training. These large-scale exercises, which last between four to six weeks, emulate the integrated air defense system of a hostile enemy. "We encounter realistic air threats and ground threats at Red Flag," continues Gromicho.

In these exercises, Red (foe) surface-to-air missile threats and simulated antiaircraft artillery challenge Blue (ally) forces. Aerial campaigns combine with ground campaigns to provide the realism of actual air combat. Planning staffs integrate the air war into an overall air-land battle scenario. "As the exercise progresses, the threats become more sophisticated," adds Lt. Col. Gromicho. "Orchestrating sound plans to counter the threat is a must."

At this particular exercise, Red Flag 2000-3, which ran from 27 March through 21 April, the PoAF F-16s supported the Blue forces in the interdiction role. Executing medium- and low-altitude flight profiles, the PoAF F-16s worked daily on the deep-interdiction sorties alongside the USAF, Netherlands, and Belgium. "One of the most important activities was integrating with allied forces and learning from others about different missions and capabilities, such as suppression of enemy air defense and electronic warfare," says Gromicho. "The multinational aircraft packages and the tactical scenarios make this training invaluable."

The vast bombing and gunnery ranges offered at Nellis provide opportunities to drop live bombs (in this case, 500-pound Mk-82 bombs and practice BDU-33 bombs). The Portuguese pilots dropped bombs during every Red Flag mission, and every Portuguese pilot had the opportunity to drop live 500-pound bombs.

The Portuguese F-16As performed well in this mission, flying four jets every mission for a total of eighty sorties. "We had a ninety-two percent mission capable rate, a ninety-seven percent sortie execution rate, and a 100 percent mission execution rate," Gromicho explains.

At the end of each sortie, aircrews are debriefed on their mission effectiveness based on video playback of their air-to-air and air-to-surface engagements. "The debriefings are extremely thorough and very useful," Gromicho says. "We find out if our electronic warfare systems worked and if they responded properly."

"We validated some of our air-to-air and air-to-ground equipment," adds Capt. Martins Rodrigues, an F-16 pilot from the 201st. "We also validated our electronic warfare equipment and system software while here."

The PoAF operates only one large F-16 squadron, the Falcões (falcons) of the 201st. The squadron formed in 1958 operating the F-86 in the air defense role. In 1980, the Falcões integrated the T-38/F-5 In 1981, the 201st deactivated. It reactivated in 1993 in time to receive its first F-16 the following year. In the meantime, two other PoAF squadrons at Monte Real, the 302nd and 304th, operated the A-7P in a limited air defense role. These two squadrons deactivated in 1999 and the A-7Ps were retired, leaving the F-16 the main air defense. "Going from the A-7P to the F-16 was a big jump for our air force because the new aircraft is obviously far superior for the air defense role," says Gromicho.

Pilots transitioning from the Alpha Jet and A-7P to the F-16A OCU also participated in the planning phases of the Red Flag missions, which gave them a chance to become acquainted with the exercise and with the capabilities of the F-16. "The goal was to refine our tactics and give our pilots some good experience at flying low- and medium-level ingresses," explains Gromicho.

The Falcões operate twenty Block 15 F-16s at Monte Real Air Base in the primary role of air defense and in the secondary roles of ground attack and maritime support. The 201st has been rated as NATO-combat ready for several years. The unit has seen action in Kosovo, where PoAF pilots performed combat air patrol missions that often lasted from four to over seven hours. Although the PoAF was approved to participate in Red Flag two years ago, the air force was unable to attend in 1999 because it was committed to the Kosovo crisis. Six of the Portuguese F-16s are still dedicated for NATO’s Immediate Reaction Force.

Portuguese F-16s have the powerful F100-PW-220E engines. Other equipment includes the wider F-16C-style head-up display, color videotape recorder, the standard AN/APG-66(V)1 radar, ring-laser gyro INS, an AN/ARC-200 high-frequency radio, and other systems and avionics found on standard F-16As, such as the AN/ALE-40 chaff and flare dispensers and the AN/ALR-69 radar warning receiver.

The six Portuguese F-16s were part of a group of twenty-seven F-16s that left Europe on 21 March to participate in the exercise at Nellis AFB. The journey to Nellis included stopovers at Lajes (Azores Islands, where da Gama stopped long before) and NAS Oceana in Virginia. The longest leg of the trip was going from Lajes to Oceana, some 2,370 nautical miles and five hours and twenty minutes of flying time.

A Dutch KC-10, Belgian Airbus A310, Belgian C-130H, Dutch C-130H, and two USAF KC-135s supported the deployment. For the journey home, the Portuguese and Belgians flew together (eleven F-16s) and left Nellis on 24 April. The trip home included stopovers at Sheppard AFB, Texas; NAS Oceana, Virginia; and Lajes.

Beginning in 2001, the Portuguese F-16s will undergo Mid-Life Update to add night vision capability, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and a new AN/APG-66(V)2 radar. After the MLU upgrade, the F-16s will be called F-16AM—M for MLU. Portugal recently acquired an additional twenty-five USAF inventory F-16s. Twenty of the fighters will be fitted for new engines and completely overhauled to MLU standards. The remaining five airframes will be kept for spare parts.

"The F-16 is very reliable," adds Maj. Francisco Fernandes, commander of the 201st Squadron. "We have accumulated over 19,000 hours without any losses. It is a good jet, flies well, and is very responsive. With night vision goggles and the beyond visual range capability of the AMRAAM after the MLU upgrade, our F-16s will become even more capable. We cannot get this type of training in Europe because of airspace limitations. So, the training we get here, especially from the ground threats, is very rewarding. We look forward to our next journey across the Atlantic to Nellis."

Ted Carlson is an aviation writer and photographer based in California.