F-35 fighter planes of four nations joined those of Israel for the start of the Israeli air force's 12-day "Blue Flag" exercises.

It is the first time Israel has held a joint mission of such complexity, the Israel Defense Force said in a news release announcing the exercise.

Over 1,000 air crew, technical and administrative personnel from the United States, Greece, Germany, Italy and Israel will participate in the "Fifth Generation" exercise at the Uvda air base in southern Israel.

Aircraft will be deployed to practice air-to-air and air-to-ground combat scenarios, advanced surface-to-air missile threats and enemy combat situations. The deployment, which began on Sunday and will conclude on Nov. 14, is designed to provide opportunities for joint flights across a wide range of threat scenarios.

It has not been determined how many of the U.S.-made F-35s will arrive at the air base, but the IAF said in the statement Friday that it expects "dozens." Israel owns 16 of the F-35A variant, with 50 more ordered and 75 more planned.

"The Blue Flag exercise is of paramount strategic importance and will have a significant impact on the Air Force, the IDF and the State of Israel as a whole," the statement added.

Air Force Academy names airfield for Tuskegee Airman
Washington (UPI) Nov 4, 2019 - The U.S. Air Force Academy named its airfield to honor Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, trailblazer and member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

In a ceremony at the previously unnamed airfield at the Colorado Springs, Colo., academy, the U.S. military's first African-American general was honored for his service.

At a naming ceremony, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the academy, said Davis was "instrumental in driving this institution towards a much more diverse and a much more inclusive population, reducing attrition rates of minorities, and crucial in developing the plan to integrate women at the United States Air Force Academy."

Davis, who died at 89 in 2002, was a West Point graduate, despite ostracism because of his race, and commissioned as a second lieutenant leading an all-black infantry regiment after he was rejected by the white-only Army Air Corps.

By 1941, when the U.S. military began training black pilots for World War II, he was one of five in the graduating class at Tuskegee Airfield, Ala. He later commanded the 99th Pursuit Squadron, an all-black aviation unit, and flew combat missions in North Africa.

Davis later served in several commands and was involved in planning the military's 1947 desegregation.

"When the whole world said that blacks were unable, incapable, less than, Gen. Davis led the Tuskegee Airmen and helped change the narrative of the whole United States, integrate the Air Force, and ultimately integrate the whole United States of America," his nephew, Doug Melville, noted at the ceremony.

The airfield, used by the Academy's Airmanship programs for soaring, parachuting and powered flight, opened in 1974.

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