Spotting in the air base of Monte Real

Some photographs of the morning missions during a spotting session in mid-July in the air base of Monte Real. This is the home base for the F-16 fleet from the Portuguese Air Force. This year, the air base of Monte Real celebrates its 50th anniversary. Commemorations include an air show, in 22th of July, which will bring to Portugal the A-7H Coirsair from the Greek Air Force - the last operator worldwide of this historical aircraft that once operated with the Portuguese colors.

Currently, two squadrons operate the F-16 fighter in Monte Real: the 201 Sqn. "Falcões" with the F-16 OCU fleet and the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares" with the modernized F-16 MLU. The OCU cells, received by 1994, are now starting a modernization programme which will bring the entire fleet up to the MLU variant.

A F-16BM fighter from 301 Sqn. arrives from a mission in the Portuguese skies. Notice that the pilot is using the new JHMCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System) and the aircraft is equipped with a Litening AT (Advanced Targeting) targeting pod. The operation of the Litening AT started in 2009 and it has been already used in the international military exercise Real Thaw.

The older but still trustable F-16B from the 201 Sqn. which has an important operational background with a dettachment in the Balkan war in the 1990s and the participation in the well-known Red Flag exercise from the US Air Force.

A Portuguese F-16 fighter from 201 Sqn. in a fly-by above the air base of Monte Real minutes before landing.

Pedro Monteiro

Monte Real: Home of the Portuguese F-16 fleet

The May and June issues of the Spanish magazine War Heat have published the first and second part of an article which I wrote together with Juan Carlos Pando (you can also visit his webpage) about the Portuguese F-16 fleet.

The article covers the history of the air base of Monte Real, where the two F-16 squadrons of the Portuguese Air Force are located, as well as the operational life of the Fighting Falcon with Portuguese colors. The MLU programme as well as new equipments, weapon systems and international exercises are also mentioned in this article.

Pedro Monteiro

Real Thaw 09

The Brazilian website Defesa Net has published an article covering the military exercise Real Thaw, organized by the Portuguese Air Force, with the participation of units from Dennamark and Spain. The article also focus the new Litening AT targeting pod which has just entered in service with the MLU fleet.

You can check the full article on the following adress:
http://www.defesanet.com.br/nato/pt_real_thaw.htm

Pedro Monteiro

Air spotting in Monte Real

Last week I have made a spotting session in the air base of Monte Real, where the Portuguese F-16 fleet is based. In the photos is possible to identify both F-16 OCU from the 201 Sqn. "Falcões" and F-16 MLU from the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares".

This spotting session follows a report, made in last March, about the F-16 fleet along with my Juan Carlos Pando (you can check his website here)

One of the most modern fighters from the fleet is this F-16BM in the M5 configuration. The aircraft belongs to the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares" which operates all the MLU fleet [click to enlarge].

The end of an afternoon mission for a F-16BM from the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares" [click to enlarge].

A low pass of a F-16A OCU from the 201 Sqn. "Falcões" with a low-viz scheme [click to enlarge].

Pedro Monteiro

The portuguese F-16 fleet

Monte Real is the home of the portuguese F-16 fleet. The F-16 OCU fleet, received in 1994, is operated by the 201 Squadron "Falcões". The other unit is the 301 Squadron "Jaguares", which operates the modern F-16 MLU fleet.
Both units are often present in national and international military exercises. More recently, they took part in the NATO Air Defense Mission "Baltics Air Policing 07 (November-December 2007) 3000 kilometers away from Monte Real. There, they have assured the vigilance, control and reaction to a potential hostile act to the sovereignty of the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), inclunding with aicrafts in Quick Reaction Alert (QRA).

A helmet of a special very special "pilot" of the Portuguese Air Force. In fact, this helmet was offered to the President of the Republic during his visit to Monte Real [click to enlarge].

A F-16B OCU from the 201 Sqn. ready for another mission with the RNLAF fighters [click to enlarge].

The impressive take-off of a RNLAF F-16MLU fighter with full after-burner. During our visit, the RNLAF squadrons 322 and 323 were at Monte Real training with the portuguese Vipers [click to enlarge].


I have visited the two squadrons with Juan Carlos Pando (you can check his website here) last February as part of an article for the magazine Fuerzas Militares del Mundo.

Pedro Monteiro