EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska –
Fourteen F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 18th Aggressor Squadron took off Jan. 17
in transit to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Andersen Air Force
Base, Guam.
The group of fighters, along with more than 150 maintainers
from the 354th Maintenance Group, is deploying to support the CENTURY ALOHA and
COPE NORTH exercises.
"It's been an enormous challenge to get all the
resources from this base and the other locations all together to make this come
together," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jaime Samson, an 18th Aggressor Squadron
air battle manager. "There have been so many moving parts along with working
with career fields I'm not familiar with. After all is said and done these will
be great training opportunities."
The exercises are meant to prepare U.S.
Airmen, Sailors and Marines along with coalition partners in the Pacific theater
of operations for contingency operations if the need arises.
"Having
exercises are an integral part of staying ready for anything," Samson said. "We
are the smallest Air Force we have ever been and keeping trained with our joint
and coalition partners enables us to be ready to cover down for the entire
Pacific region."
Maintainers will keep the jets in top running order
throughout the one-month deployment.
Chief Mark Long, the 354th MXG
quality assurance superintendent, said keeping up with the regular scheduled
maintenance happens no matter where the jets are located, so transferring tools
and equipment becomes a challenge.
"Mission accomplishment and the
big-picture results of the job keep these Airmen motivated to overcome these
challenges and get the tasks completed every day," he said. "Being able to be
part of that brings a big sense of satisfaction."
Combined, the
Aggressors will fly more than 400 sorties, exceeding 1,000 flight hours,
training alongside aircraft from around the world including the F-22 Raptor,
which has recently been employed for the first time in combat.
"When this
is all done we have trained a lot of people to be combat ready," Samson said.
"After all the challenges we've overcome to make this happen it's well worth it
to have the pilots, maintainers, Pacific partners and entire bases with a lot
more knowledge to stand ready when the need
arises."