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Colombian Kfirs Are Back, Again Flying With American F-16s

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) is a sucker for cool photos of its hardware in action, and it likes to constantly flood us with such vistas too. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from covering these releases is that the pics generally show aircraft in one of two instances: either at home USAF bases or in the skies over regions America needs to keep safe.
American F-16s and Colombian KFIRs flying together 6 photos
Photo: USAF/Master Sgt. Nicole Szews
American F-16s and Colombian KFIRs flying togetherIAI Kfir and F-16 Fighting FalconIAI KfirIAI KfirIAI Kfir
From time to time, we get instances of American aircraft training with those of allied nations, mostly the Europeans and Asian ones. USAF rarely displays its might in the skies over South America, and this is why every time we get to see that happening is a reason for excitement. Especially given how that means we get to see other rare planes.

It was back in the August of last year when we were treated with an image of American F-16 flown by American pilots over the skies of Colombia. They were not alone, but accompanied by IAI Kfirs flown by the nation’s Air Force. And now, more than a year later, here is the F-16 - Kfir pairing out and about again.

The pic was snapped in August 2022, but only recently published by the USAF, and it shows four F-16s and an equal number of Kfirs (the ones on the right of the image) flying formation during the annual Relampago exercise held there.

The Kfir is a variant of the French Dassault Mirage 5, modified for Israel Aircraft Industries. It is powered by a General Electric engine powerful enough to push the plane to a top speed of Mach 2 (2,440 kph/1,520 mph) and to altitudes of 17,680 m (58,010 ft).

The plane was introduced in the 1970s and was first flown by the Israel Air Force. After being retired by them it ended up serving the needs of several other nations, including Columbia and Ecuador.

As for Relampago, that’s an exercise meant to bettering “training techniques, tactics, procedures” and strengthen “interoperability between the U.S. and Colombian air forces as allies under NATO standards.”
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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