Location selected for Slovak F-16 pilot training

Slovak Air Force pilots will train to fly the F-16C/D Block 70 Fighting Falcon with the Arizona Air National Guard’s (ANG’s) 162nd Wing at Morris Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Tucson the USAF announced on November 15.

**The first F-16C Block 70 (1001) for the Slovak Air Force completed its maiden flight on September 29, 2023. Pilot training will take place at Morris ANGB in Tucson, Arizona.** Lockheed Martin

An initial group of four Slovak F-16C/D Block 70s are scheduled to arrive at Tucson International Airport – where Morris ANGB is co-located – in the spring of 2024 and will remain at the Arizona base until 2026.

The first Slovak F-16C Block 70 was unveiled at Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Greenville, South Carolina, on September 7, 2023, before it completed its maiden flight later that month. Slovakia ordered 12 F-16Cs and two F-16Ds in September 2018, and deliveries of the first examples of the US-built fighter are expected to begin in Q2 2024.