Top Aces, the world’s sole commercial owner/operator of F-16 fighter aircraft revealed it received a contract as part of the US Air Force (USAF) Combat Air Force Contracted Air Support program to provide advanced adversary air training to pilots at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in Florida and Luke AFB in Arizona.
Valued at up to $175 million, the five-year contract will see Top Aces begin training in support of USAF F-35A and F-22 fleets later this month.
The company announced the US Air Force contract after obtaining the service’s Military Flight Release (MFR) for its F-16 aircraft in August this year.
The company is the first commercial provider to deliver contracted air training to the USAF using the supersonic F-16 platform, and is the only company in the world to operate the F-16 Advanced Aggressor Fighter (AAF) – an upgraded version of the aircraft with open system architecture capabilities, including Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, helmet-mounted cueing systems, tactical datalinks and high off-boresight missile capabilities.
Overall, Top Aces will operate 26 F-16 aircraft bought second-hand from Israel to enhance its fleet and support the adversary air support contract with the US Air Force (USAF).
“Top Aces’ cadre of highly-experienced Aggressor pilots and maintenance crews looks forward to supporting Luke and Eglin to fulfill their advanced combat training needs,” says Russ Quinn, President, Top Aces Corp., USAF veteran and former Aggressor pilot. “With our fleet of F-16 AAFs, we deliver a caliber of adversary air training that was previously non-existent. Our commitment is to deliver professional excellence and significant cost efficiencies.”
