Photo By Micah Garbarino | A pilot from the 34th Fighter Squadron conducts pre-flight checks of an F-35A Lighting...... read more read more
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Pilots from the 34th Fighter Squadron are bringing the fifth-generation airpower of the F-35A Lightning II to the simulated combat of Bamboo Eagle 24-3.
Following Red Flag, which ran from July 22-Aug. 2 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., the squadron forward deployed to a “spoke” location here this week as part an Air Force Warfare Center exercise designed to create a ‘combat representative environment’ across large portions of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
“Red Flag is scripted. The schedule is set. The different units get to talk face-to-face and mission plan together. Bamboo Eagle is not. There is no script,” said Lt. Col. Ian Osterreicher, 34th Fighter Squadron commander. “It’s important because that is what will happen (in conflict). You’ll go somewhere you’ve never been before, with people you’ve never worked with, and be asked to do something you’ve never done before.”
Approximately 3,000 service members from four branches are operating more than 150 aircraft from nearly a dozen locations to create the separate force elements of Bamboo Eagle. On a given day, the pilots could fly a mission, meet up with a tanker over the ocean, or “hot-pit” refuel at another contingency location – then rejoin the fight alongside F-35B’s from the United States Marine Corps, Air Force F-22s or Navy Growlers.
From a mission-planning perspective, the disaggregated operations are challenging the squadron to find solutions ‘on the fly.’
“For 20 years in the Middle East we got used to doing the same mission over and over again from a set location,” Osterreicher said. “Now it's on us to provide our primary mission sets, dislocated, with little to no communication. Fly thousands of miles. Trust your tanker support is in the air for you to keep going. Talk to each other airborne and make it happen.”
During Bamboo Eagle, the F-35s are primarily being tasked with offensive and defensive counter-air against fourth and fifth-generation aircraft, long range bombers and cruise missiles.
“Stealth, lethality, survivability. It excels at all those things,” Osterreicher said. “It provides the situational awareness our pilots are able lead with out there.”
These missions are taking place over the eastern Pacific Ocean in airspace that stretches west from the California coast, providing valuable opportunity to operate at ranges not normally available – testing the jet’s capabilities as well as the pilot’s mettle.
There’s a moment when you realize that the land behind you vanished some time ago. Flying alone in a single engine aircraft -- looking down at an endless expanse of grey and whitecaps.
“It’s been good training, but it’s definitely wild,” said Capt. Spencer Thompson, an F-35 pilot with the 34th FS. “It really does feel like you’re halfway to Hawaii out there.”
For the squadron’s younger pilots, simply “getting the reps” is a valuable experience. From joining up with a tanker multiple times, to dynamically managing their fuel for longer sorties, to executing tactics properly in a “task saturated environment” when they may be exhausted.
“Even the simple things like stepping onto an unfamiliar airfield and talking to unfamiliar controllers. Back at home, we might feel like we could take off from Hill in our sleep. But here, as a flight lead or as a wingman, you need to focus on the details, plan through everything,” Osterreicher said. “I want them to see where they were uncomfortable, so that they can focus on those things. If we fail, we want to fail here. That’s OK. We’ll bring that back home. Focus on those things and get better.”
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2024 11:18 |
| Story ID: | 478210 |
| Location: | SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | HILL AIR FORCE BASE, UTAH, US |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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