Tulsa Vipers back to CONUS
Being formerly the 125th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and having flown the past months in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) and Spartan Shield (SS), the 'Tulsa Vipers', aka as 'Beavers', are now heading back to the Continental United States (CONUS).
On 28 November 2023, a dozen F-16Cs from Oklahoma Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Squadron, part of the 138th Fighter Wing, were seen transiting through Morón Air Base (Spain). Having spent most of time at Prince Sultan Air Base (Saudi Arabia), the Fighting Falcons will be returning back to Tulsa Air National Guard Base (OK).
As tensions rose in the Middle East some months ago, the 125th Fighter Squadron was carefully chosen to be deployed to the region.
Earlier, Scramble Magazine wrote about the increased USAF fighter presence in the Middle East. During 2022, the Tulsa Vipers received the APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. This new radar system has the ability to track more targets at longer ranges than the previous one.
While it seems that more deployed Air National Guard F-16 units are mixed, the 125th Fighter Squadron keeps it all together. According to the Scramble Database, some 22 F-16C/Ds are on strength at Tulsa. Strikingly, their motto says "Cave Castorea" ("Beware of Beavers").
Credit photo: USAF / Credit patches: E-Bay