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AssetID : 36609211
Headline : Airman Magazine: Amazing Images Show The Ranges Where Top Gun Pilots Practice Their Firepower
Caption : PICTURE SHOWS: Air crews usually try to miss the air to ground targets to extend the life of the targets at Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida. Clean up crews regularly visit the targets and clean up the area of all expended munitions and recycle the scrap. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Perry Aston)

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Airman Magazine, the official publication of the U.S. Air Force, released on Thursday (13 June) this jaw-dropping collection of images of Air Force ranges.

The show the bullet-decimated targets used to provide “relevant and realistic” training and air and ground firepower experience for Top Guns.

In a collection called ‘Operational Impact’, the amazing pictures include a pock-marked U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom jet, living “a second life after retirement as an air to ground target on Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida.”

Vehicles and containers also show the effects of being strafed with thousands of live rounds from fighter jets.

The Airman article by U.S.A.F. Technical Sergeant Perry Aston reads:

Ranges are where many pilots, joint terminal attack controllers and other operational personnel sharpen their skills.

These ranges are where many pilots, joint terminal attack controllers and other operational personnel cut their teeth or sharpen their skills through mass exercises, joint training and routine readiness requirements. The education gained on these large swaths of land and air translates directly to scenarios encountered downrange.

“So, there we were, full package going across day one of Desert Storm … and then we hear on the radio, splash, MIG-29,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “Because I was far enough forward in the formation, I see an aircraft hit the ground and explode. And I remember that moment in my cockpit like it was yesterday, because, all of a sudden, I realized none of this was new — I actually had been in this environment before, this exact environment before … I’d done all of this before at Red Flag just months prior.”

Air Force ranges are vital to creating and maintaining a lethal force capable of rapidly adapting to meet national defense needs.
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