MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho: More than 150 Airmen and 12 F-22 Raptors from the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., arrived here July 31 in support of the Air Force’s first Exercise Global Gem joint training.
Members of the 389th and 43rd Fighter Squadrons will continue their training through Sept. 2, during which the F-15E Strike Eagle will fly against the F-22 as an adversary, or “red air,” as well as next to the aircraft in a friendly “blue air” mission.
The local area provides a chance for specialized training since the airspace and terrain allows the F-22 to employ air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities in mountainous areas, a vast difference from the environment they usually conduct training in.
“We brought the 43rd (FS) to Mountain Home (Air Force Base) for many reasons, mainly to work with the (F-15s) here and get some similar training from a ‘blue air’ standpoint as well as use the ranges here for the mountainous terrain and the ability to drop inert weapons out there,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Bird, the 43rd FS commander and F-22 pilot. “The majority of the flying we do is over the water. Obviously when we go to war, we’re not always flying over water.”
The land around Tyndall AFB is flat with very few obstacles.
Mountain Home AFB’s mountainous terrain requires a lot more attention to detail and a skill set the (F-22) pilots are trying to provide the younger pilots with in case they’re called on to fly over rugged terrain, Colonel Bird said.
Capt. Jessica Hietpas, from the 389th Fighter Squadron, is one of several F-15E pilots who are supporting the 43rd FS by acting as the F-22’s opposition. While flying against them, she was able to witness the aircraft’s capabilities first-hand.
“We’re starting from beyond visual range and moving into visual range, and they did exactly as advertised with the fifth generation fighter — you can’t really see them until it’s too late,” she said.
The F-22 brings a high-powered engine for high thrust-weight ratio that gives maneuverability, while its integrated avionics give sensor sweep and low observability.
The aircraft’s advanced features separate it from the F-15E, but Colonel Bird said the older aircraft “is still a viable platform in today’s fight based on the numbers they have and the ordnance they can carry.
“If you look at the history of airpower, every time they build a new aircraft it’s one step up,” he said. “The F-22 is that next step in the advancement of American airpower.”
As both squadrons practice maneuvers during this month-long exercise, the advancement is apparent as they perform maneuvers they may one day perform together during a real-world mission.
“It benefits us because we see what’s going to be on our side once we integrate with them into some kind of larger scenario,” Captain Hietpas said. “So instead of being targets, we’ll be teamed with them into a package.”
With the F-22’s advancement and the F-15’s capability to fight its way to a target over long ranges, the captain said she is happy to have the F-22 on her side.
“We’ll have good guys watching out for us and we can focus on getting things on the ground,” she said. “The (F-22 is) a deep-strike type platform, and we’re multirole, but it’s also nice to have people who have your back in the air-to-air environment and are taking care of that, so you can focus on the deep strike mission.”
