Photo By Staff Sgt. Anthony Nin Leclerec | U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors form the 1st Fighter Wing and 192nd Wing participate in a...... read more read more
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U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors from the 1st Fighter Wing and 192nd Wing, with the support of the 633rd Air Base Wing, took part in a total force exercise at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Feb. 28, 2019.
The Phase I exercise showcased the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors’ readiness and ability to deploy.
“It takes the combined effort of the 633rd ABW, the 192nd Wing, and the 1st FW to deploy a fighter squadron on short-notice,” said Col. Jason Hinds 1st FW commander. “I’m thankful to all those who participated in the planning and execution of the Phase I exercise.”
With their slogan of ‘ready to deploy, ready to employ,’ the exercise tested the Wing’s ability to generate aircraft and get them to the fight. Once there, the Raptors were regenerated and reconfigured for war, flying sorties from the deployed location.
“For the normal AEF cycles or to go to Red Flag or any of those exercises we have months to plan,” said Col. David Seitz, 1st Maintenance Group commander. “This one was not like that at all [this was accomplished in a week]. Our Airmen crushed it! It was amazing to watch.”
As part of the exercise, the Raptors staged an “Elephant Walk,” testing the squadrons’ ability to launch large formations of aircraft at a moments’ notice.
“These exercises are extremely important with the influx of new Airman that have not had the experience,” said Staff Sgt. Eric Talman, 192nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief. “This gives them a chance to see from beginning to end, the process and importance of our mission.”
According to Seitz, the timeline expectations were clearly exceeded. He said he is extremely proud of the Airmen and NCOs.
“Our senior NCOs are some of the best on earth,” Seitz said. “They showed their ability to make decisions, take charge of tough problems and fix anything we threw at them.”
The combined efforts of the wings included processing Airmen for deployment, building bombs and getting them transported, building tents, configuring jets for flight to a deployed location and reconfiguring the jets with the deployed assets for war.
“Our jets were really healthy,” said Senior Airman Miguel Vaquera, 1st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron avionic systems journeyman. “We’ve been focusing more on minor maintenance issues that could evolve into a bigger problem later on. So when an exercise like this or a real world situation comes around, we’re ready.”
According to Vaquera, these exercises bring about a sense of urgency. It allows them to work in a higher tempo similar to those of a deployed location where every second counts.
“We know that with the F-22 we’re going to be called, especially in a high-end fight against near peer competitors, they’re going to call Langley and we need to be ready,” Seitz said.
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 09.17.2019 10:08 |
| Story ID: | 341368 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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