Aggressor F-16s Over Alaska and Soldiers Jumping Into Doha Made the USAF Great Last Week

There are some people however for whom the routine will not change: the men and women working for the U.S. Air Force. For them, it's business as usual, with a lot of training to be routinely performed so that humans and machines are always ready for conflicts that may or may not come.

The Air Force will also continue to conduct its weekly release of photos of amazing humans and machines in action as it looks to always expand the reach of its activities and draw more people into its ranks.

For the first week of fall the USAF treated us to images of fighter jets, transport planes, and even aerobatics teams, but we kind of feel this latest release is all about humans. Or, more specifically, humans jumping out of perfectly fine aircraft, or casually dangling their feet out the rear of one.

You can enjoy the most amazing photos of USAF units in action in the lines below.

Thunderbird shows eagle-etched underbelly

The Thunderbirds are the official cool team of the USAF. Established in 1953 (which is exactly 70 years ago), this crew of talented pilots is presently flying a squad of F-16 Fighting Falcons for the enjoyment of people all around the world. And they usually make the headlines in the Air Force releases.

On this occasion we get to see one of the team's F-16s as it performs a banked left turn during the Cleveland National Air Show in Ohio at the beginning of the month. The maneuver leaves the underbelly of the plane completely exposed to the crowds below, displaying the entire might of the shape of an eagle etched on the skin.

The Thunderbirds outing in Ohio was an important one, because even if the air show season began long ago, this was the first time the Thunderbirds performed during a three-day event this year.

September will see the team travel to another four shows, with an equal number of such events to benefit from their presence in October. The 2023 season ends in November in Florida.

Aggressors in the sky

Fighting against mock adversaries is one of the pillars of the USAF's pilot training program, and often time that means taking on American pilots flying American planes that try to mimic the nation's most vicious enemies.

The USAF has dedicated crews tasked with playing the role of bad guys during training. They're called Aggressor Squadrons, and have been around since the 1970s. These guys are flying America's most modern aircraft (sometimes painted in the colors of enemy aircraft) trying to mimic the tactics of enemy pilots from Russia and elsewhere in a bid to get pilots ready for a potential confrontation.

The image we have here shows two F-16 Fighting Falcons deployed with the 18th Aggressor Squadron out of Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. They do not wear the colors of the USAF, but different paint jobs as they attempt to simulate enemy aircraft.

The pic was snapped back in mid-August during the Red Flag 23-3 exercise which took place over the world's largest military training range, the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) in Alaska.

Lightning on the ground

Despite being the youngest fighter airplane in the U.S. arsenal, the F-35 Lightning II is a constant presence in our lives. Flying in the service of both America's and allied nations' military, the F-35 is also a constant presence in the USAF weekly photo releases.

Two of them are seen here taxiing on the runway of the Al Udeid Air Base last week, during an outing of the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. They were not getting ready for some exercise, but an actual patrol mission.

We're told these two planes went on to fly over the Strait of Hormuz (separating the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman) on a monitoring mission. They were not alone up there, as they were joined by an undisclosed number of A-10 Thunderbolts and F-16 Fighting Falcons for the mission at hand.

USAF's people favorite pastime

We're no strangers to seeing American airmen and women spending time on the ramp of transport airplanes, even when they are open right in the middle of a flight. That doesn't mean we're not impressed at the sight any time we see it.

At least four people working for the USAF are seen here right on the edge of an HC-130J Combat King aircraft as it flies over Louisville, Kentucky, during a mission of an undisclosed nature.

The plane is deployed with the 79th Rescue Squadron and usually goes on combat search and rescue missions. To do that, it often needs its people to dangle their legs out the rear ramp, ready to jump at a moment's notice.

For the purposes of these flights, the men and women doing this are almost always secured in place as to avoid accidents.

Jumping out of perfectly fine aircraft

The habit of humans jumping out of perfectly fine airborne machines and gear dates back to the 1700s, when Benjamin Franklin started dreaming of soldiers dropping from balloons to take the enemy by surprise. In the years of the Second World War, true paratrooper units were formed, and that's how today we have people who do that for a living.

The USAF doesn't treat us all that often with images of paratroopers, and that's why we always jump in excitement when we see such stills.

The photo we have here shows a couple of soldiers deployed with the 165th Quartermaster Brigade Aerial Delivery Company-Airborne Det 1 as they leave a mid-flight MC-130J. One of the soldiers is captured right in the middle of opening their parachute, while the other, fresh out of the plane, seems to assume a cannonball position as they clear the ramp.

The jumps were performed in mid-August in Doha, Qatar, during an airborne insertion exercise, jointly held by the U.S. Army and Qatar Joint Special Forces. An impressive sight, and that's why it made it to the top of this week's USAF photos list.

Stay tuned next week to see what other great images the world's most powerful Air Force has to offer.