New Aggressors

[Waco]

First of some new Aggressor paint schemes breaks cover at Nellis:

 

706th Aggressor Sq

[Drifterdon]

That's pretty cool.  Thanks for sharing.

[f5guy]

I don't know.... That colorful tail kind of kills it for me. It's like the VFC-111 F-5s with the high vis sunburst on the tail. They never did a thing for me. I much prefer the brief period when they had low vis sunburst markings. Maybe its jut me 😆  Thanks for posting this! Fred K.

[BillS]

‘Nawlens of course

[Bulldog 09]

I'm with Fred, Everything looks great, except the paint on the tail. 

 

Dave Fassett

[Gary F]

Waco, can’t quite make it out but is that your name on the side?

[thegoodsgt]

TwoBobs has decals in their pipeline.

 

[ST0RM]

4 hours ago, Gary F said:

Waco, can’t quite make it out but is that your name on the side?

It is!
Waco has gone to the dark side and is a Viper guy? LOL
But seriously, congrats. 

[Gary F]

With the helmet, I thought F-35s were the dark side ; )

[GreyGhost]

Nice ... 

 

-Gregg

[ST0RM]

53 minutes ago, Gary F said:

With the helmet, I thought F-35s were the dark side ; )

He was an Eagle Driver, then Raptor, now Viper. 
The Eagle pilots used to mock the F-16s. 

[Niels]

Any pics of the other jets joining the 706AS please? Would love to see which other schemes are in the loop 🙂

[ST0RM]

1 hour ago, Niels said:

Any pics of the other jets joining the 706AS please? Would love to see which other schemes are in the loop 🙂

If I'm reading this correctly, they are an associate unit. So they will not have their own aircraft, but share them with the 64th. Aside from this one jet, that'll be it.

While I could be wrong, there aren't enough F-16s in the fleet with units getting them to replace the retiring A-10s. 

[Niels]

the 706AGRS used to be associate if I'm nmot wrong, but are getting their own aircraft now. Ex 457FS jets. 
This is an initiative from the USAF to retain critical agressor knowledge and personnel which might otherwise dissappear with the normal 2-3 year rotation of assignments. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Niels

[Waco]

Niels is correct.  In May of 2023, the 706th Fighter Squadron was redesignated as the 706AGRS (AS is for Airlift Sq), and consolidated all Reserve Aggressor functions at Nellis into a single unit (Information Warfare Aggressors, Air Defense Aggressors, F-16 Aggressor operations, and F-35 Aggressor pilots).  The remaining Reserve fighter elements (Weapons School, Thunderbirds, Operational Test & Evaluation) were consolidated into the newly stood up 460th Test and Evaluation squadron.  Both units fall under the 926th Operations Group, which is one of two OGs in the 926th Wing.

 

The 706AGRS and its supporting 926AMXS switched from being Classic Associations (Active Duty led) to Active Associations (Reserve leads Operations, Scheduling, Mission prioritization) on 1 October 2023, and began generation and operations of their own assigned/possessed aircraft that same month.  Beginning in September 2023, the 926th Wing had begun accepting transferred GE powered Block 30 airframes from the 457th Fighter Squadron at Joint-Base NAS Ft Worth.  Eventually, the 706th will have 18 Primary Assigned Aircraft and will provide the majority of "legacy" Aggressor support to Weapons School, Flag and Joint Exercises, and Adversary Test support.  As the 706th footprint increases, the 64th AGRS continues to divest/retire its fleet of P&W powered Block 25/32 airframes.  End state, the 64th will operate a fleet of 10 Block 42 F-16s.

 

This marks the first time the 926WG has possessed, generated, and operated its own aircraft since leaving Louisiana in 2006 after BRAC/Hurricane Katrina.

 

706th Triple Snek

[Camus272]

16 hours ago, ST0RM said:

If I'm reading this correctly, they are an associate unit. So they will not have their own aircraft, but share them with the 64th. Aside from this one jet, that'll be it.

While I could be wrong, there aren't enough F-16s in the fleet with units getting them to replace the retiring A-10s. 

 

So far there have had these airframes delivered to them:

85-1472

85-1474

85-1493

85-1501

86-0219

86-0222

86-0229

[Camus272]

18 hours ago, Niels said:

Any pics of the other jets joining the 706AS please? Would love to see which other schemes are in the loop 🙂

The only other scheme I've seen so far is the "Felon" solid gray (Have Glass?) scheme.

 

Twobobs has a sheet with these two at the printers.

[Niels]

The solid gray would be Have Glas V, as you see on 86-0222. MIght be some time still before we see other jets in aggressor markings then 😉

[ST0RM]

Great stuff! 
Nice to see them getting their own jets. Thanks for the correction and breakdown. 

[MikoLee]

Reminds me of a JAS 39 Gripen scheme I've seen recently, pretty cool

 

Miko

[KEB]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:06 PM, f5guy said:

I don't know.... That colorful tail kind of kills it for me. It's like the VFC-111 F-5s with the high vis sunburst on the tail. They never did a thing for me. I much prefer the brief period when they had low vis sunburst markings. Maybe its jut me 😆  Thanks for posting this! Fred K.

I'm with you....tail looks a bit out of place

[Waco]

Some nice pics of the 926WG flagship taken from the Motor Soeedway just outside of Nellis this week:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Fs7i-u-F8/?igsh=MWNvNWh0Z3RqemNrMg==