USAF F-15 Strike Eagles landing at Incirlik Air Base (Turkish: İncirlik Hava Üssü).
Six F-15Cs will conduct combat air patrols in Turkish air space to help secure Turkish airspace and six F-15Es will join A-10s and other aircraft already conducting other missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Bushranger, ADF has not colmletepy lost it’s mind. Only 4 colmletepy worn out C-130H models have been retired. 8 remain in service for a combined RAAF C-130 fleet of 20 aircraft and will do so at least until 2013 and possibly 2016 if RAAF gets it’s own way. RAAF is apparently pushing hard for those 8 H models to remain in-service alongside the J models and the “battlefield airlifter” – BFA’s project which should provide at least 10 aircraft to fill many of the C-130 roles that RAAF may once have flown.RAAF’s apparent “back-up” plan is the acquisition of additional BFA’s to offset the loss of the H models given that a C-27J for instance can carry about 75% of the C-130J load (90% of the H model load) as far as a C-130J can, at a cheaper overall cost. When you consider that most RAAF C-130J lifts are well below the maximum capacity anyway, the C-27J (or C-295) argument makes sense. If they win their argument, you’ll see a fleet of 5 C-17’s, 12 C-130J’s, 8 upgraded/refurbished C-130H’s or quite a few more than 10 BFA’s. A fleet virtually the same in numbers as the “hey day” (especially when you take availability of modern aircraft into account) but one with far greater lift capacity, range and survivability to the traditional RAAF airlift model, at the expense admittedly of extra logistical and acquisition cost.