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HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AP) -- In the war on terror, Air Force pilots often rely on the cover of night to elude their enemy.
To be adequately trained for those night flights, pilots in the 388th Fighter Wing train in northern Utah.
The base's fighter wing is conducting night training throughout the winter months in order to be prepared for fighting overseas.
"We have a minimum we need to train to," said Lt. Col. Pat Miller.
Miller, the deputy operations group commander, said flying at night offers a tactical advantage that can't be replaced.
"The bad guys don't have the sanctity of working at night," he said.
Among the technology that pilots are training with are night vision goggles and Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night equipment. The LANTIRN equipment enables pilots to see what's happening in the darkness on the ground and to better locate targets. The technology involves a targeting pod under the aircraft.
The 388th Fighter Wing is the largest LANTIRN wing in the world. Another aspect of training is use of night vision goggles, which allow pilots to see out of the cockpit and spot things on the ground.
"They don't make it daytime, but they give us a significantly improved capability," said Maj. Shannon Juby with the 421st Fighter Squadron.
Juby knows how invaluable night training can be. She was deployed to Iraq with her squadron from May to September and provided night support to ground troops.
"It's real important to train like we fight, and night flying is a big portion of what we're doing out there," she said.
Juby suited up this week with her fellow squadron members and took to the night skies over the Utah Test and Training Range.
Pilots practice over the more than 19,000 square miles of restricted airspace using the LANTIRN equipment and night vision goggles to drop inert bombs made of concrete.
The pilots train in the winter because it gets dark earlier. Not only is this good for the pilots, but it is also better for surrounding neighbors because they won't have to hear jets flying overhead all hours of the night, Miller said.
"I can fly in the evening, and I'm not still flying at 3 o'clock in the morning," he said. Training will be held for about two weeks every month during the winter, Miller said. The training is conducted from early evening until just after midnight.
"As we get closer to the summer months, the night training will taper off."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
