Vermont F-35s to fly Europe air policing missions

By WILSON RING
Associated Press

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The first overseas deployment of the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-35 fighter jets will have the pilots and their aircraft patrolling the skies of Europe during one of the most tense periods in recent history. More than 200 Vermont air guard personnel, their equipment and eight F-35s are in Europe where they will fly what are called enhanced air policing missions along NATO’s eastern flank. The Vermont aircraft are replacing F-35s from Hill Air Force Base in Utah that arrived in Europe in February, just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vermont Air Guard Lt. Col. John “Rocky MacRae says they are there to defend NATO and not to be aggressive.