Indiana National Guard Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, Indiana adjutant general, and Brig. Gen. Slavomir Staviarsky, a Slovak Republic defense attaché, pose for a photo in front of F-16s at a ceremonial delivery event in Greenville, South Carolina, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. “The Indiana National Guard and the Slovak armed forces have shared a strong and productive partnership for decades, and it’s fitting that we will now simultaneously operate modern F-16 fighters, maintaining our dominance in the air,” said Lyles. Indiana National Guard photo by Capt. Lei Wang
INDIANAPOLIS — One of the Indiana National Guard’s state partners, Slovakia, received two F-16s during a ceremony in South Carolina on Thursday, attended by Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, Indiana’s adjutant general.
The fighter jets, also known as Fighting Falcons, aim to bolster Slovakia’s defense capability, capacity and competence in NATO.
“The Indiana National Guard and the Slovak armed forces have shared a strong and productive partnership for decades, and it’s fitting that we will now simultaneously operate modern F-16 fighters, maintaining our dominance in the air,” said Lyles.
Since 1994 Indiana’s National Guard and Slovak armed forces committed to an enduring partnership as part of the National Guard’s overarching State Partnership Program that matched states with former Soviet bloc nations. Over the years, the program expanded worldwide, and Indiana also partners with Niger, which started in 2017.
As Slovakia gets their F-16s, Hoosier airmen with the 122nd Fighter Wing began their transition back to Fighting Falcons after flying the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs for more than a decade.
“Conversion to the F-16 will allow the 122nd to build upon past successes and continue to pass the trials of the national defense strategy in new ways, long into the future,” said Col. Joshua C. Waggoner, 122nd Fighter Wing commander in a 2023 statement when the 122nd announced it would convert from the A-10 to the F-16.
More than 3,100 F-16s are operating today in 25 countries. The F-16 has flown an estimated 19.5 million flight hours and at least 13 million sorties. Today’s latest version, the Block 70/72, will be flown by six countries and counting.
