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F-22s deploy with active-duty, reserve airmen

The Air Force put its total force concept to the test with its most sophisticated fighter jet earlier this month in a deployment of eight F-22s from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, that was staffed by 132 active-duty and reserve airmen.

The deployment to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., for the Combat Archer exercise Feb. 2-17 was the first time Raptors have deployed with a mixed crew from active-duty and reserve units, according to a Pacific Air Forces press release.

The deployment featured airmen from the 3rd Wing, an active-duty unit, and the 477th Fighter Group, a reserve associate unit that activated in October 2007 to support the 3rd Wing, according to the press release.

This was just the second deployment for the F-22 Raptor; the first was a deployment last year of 12 Raptors from Langley Air Force Base, Va., to Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Combat Archer is an assessment of operational fighter squadrons’ readiness for combat operations. It evaluates all phases of combat operations from weapons loading to aircraft and aircrew performance.

It also allows pilots to fire their weapons at aerial targets.

“Fourteen out of 16 of our missiles … passed within the lethal radius or hit the [target] drone,” Maj. David Piffarerio, project officer for Combat Archer, said in the press release.

The F-22 has reached several milestones recently. The first F-22s arrived at Elmendorf in May 2007, and a second F-22 squadron at the base was activated in October. The Raptor had its first intercept of unknown aircraft in November when two Raptors scrambled from Elmendorf to greet two Russian Bear-H bombers that had wandered near Alaskan airspace. The F-22 reached full operational capability in December when units from Langley fulfilled all operational requirements.