F-22 Raptors assigned to the 90th Fighter Squadron prepare to take off from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, April 4. The Raptors from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson were participating in Operation Chimichanga, a long range strike exercise over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. (Courtesy photo)
by Capt. Ashley Conner
477th Fighter Group Public Affairs
4/9/2012 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AFNS) -- A mix of personnel from the 477th Fighter Group, 3rd Wing, and 673rd Air Base Wing left Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to participate in a long range strike exercise on April 4.
F-22 Raptors and E-3's assigned to the 3rd Wing along with F-16s from Misawa Air Base, Japan, B-1's from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and KC-135s from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, participated in the U.S. Strategic Command operation. JB Elmendorf F-22s, Eielson AFB, KC-135s and the Aggressor F-16 force operated out of Eielson AFB, while the E-3 and blue air F-16s supporting the exercise operated out of JB Elmendorf. The B-1 bombers participating in the long range strike exercise flew a 10-hour round trip sortie from Ellsworth AFB to strike their targets just east of Eielson AFB.
"The objective of this operation was to validate the long range strike capability of the B-1s as well as the F-22 and F-16s ability to escort them into an anti-access target area," said Lt. Col. Joseph Kunkel, 90th Fighter Squadron commander, who sent five 90th FS pilots, a 302d FS pilot, 20 maintainers, a flight surgeon and a bio environmental engineer to Eielson AFB for the exercise.
This was the first time the Raptors participated in this exercise which integrated with multiple platforms from different major commands. It was also the first time that increment 3.1, a recent F-22 hardware and software upgrade, was used in a large force employment exercise.
"Increment 3.1 gives the Raptor the means to find and engage targets on the ground. During this operation it was critical to follow-on forces completing their missions," said Kunkel. "Our integration of 3.1 went extremely well. We were able to glean invaluable lessons from this exercise that we had not seen before and we completed increment 3.1 upgrades for two of the pilots."
The operation was conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex near Eielson AFB. The 65,000 square mile air space provides a diverse training environment allowing pilots to train realistically and jointly in situations similar to what they'll face in combat.
While this was the first time increment 3.1 and the Raptors participated in this exercise it was not the first time the Reserve F-22 pilots assigned to the 302nd FS which falls under the 477th FG integrated with the active duty. Since the unit was activated in 2007 pilots and maintainers have integrated in all aspects of the 3rd Wing's F-22 operations.
"This realistic training is a result of high quality Airmen leveraging new capabilities on an excellent training range, " said Col. Tyler Otten, 477th Fighter Group deputy commander. "This is a great example of total force integration partners working together to accomplish our shared mission."
Comments
4/11/2012 8:37:30 AM ET Doesn't sound misleading to me at all. An article written by the Fighter Group PA that was sucked up to the USAF website talks about her group's participation in a long-range strike exercise. Long-range doesn't mean the F-22s flew long distances...it means they participated in an LFE that conducted a LRS-type mission. NIce to see that we are training to the mission sets that our National Military Strategy wants us to focus on.
Greg, GA
4/9/2012 3:42:41 PM ET Vito I agree. The article headline is very misleading. Especially to one that was stationed at Eielson for 8 years.
Arctic Warrior, Peterson AFB
4/9/2012 12:40:31 PM ET The title of this article misleads a reader to believe F-22 pilots flew long-range strike exercise missions. In reality F-22's stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson flew out of Eielson to strike targets located east of Eielson. However that's fully understandable since the F-22's ongoing oxygen system problems would require pilots to hold their breath for longer periods if flying out of JBER.
