AROUND THE AIR FORCE
Total-Force Airmen from ‘Team Hickam’ completed three weeks of fighter operations with visiting F-16 Fighting Falcons on March 11 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during the second iteration of exercise Pacific Raptor. The exercise was held to generate dissimilar aircraft combat training with the Alaska-based aircraft from the Eielson Air Force Base, exposing the Hawaiian F-22 Raptors to new combat strategies that are likely to be faced in the event of an air-to-air battle. “We’re helping the F-22s by replicating adversary capabilities so that they are trained and ready for any fight the Air Force wants to take them to,” said Capt. Daniel Simpson, 18th Aggressor Squadron pilot.
HAWAIIAN RAPTORS HOLD FIGHTER EXERCISE Story and main photo by Staff Sgt. John Linzmeier 154th Wing Public Affairs
In the fighter community, the ‘Aggressors’ are known to provide world-class mimicry of adversarial practices, so much that it permeates throughout their aircraft paint scheme and heraldry. In a similar fashion that method actors adopt behaviors of portrayed characters, Aggressor personnel are branded with insignia that resembles that of Cold War opponents to represent a past threat, along with foreign paint designs that are easily identified on sight. A typical training day entailed the launching of KC-135 Stratotankers from the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron, followed by back-to-back takeoffs with the Hawaiian Raptors and Aggressors, which received in-air refueling between each combat scenario. Each round of refueling was planned so
6 HO’OKELE • APRIL 2021
