JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – –
U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 94th and 27th Fighter
Squadrons and the71st Fighter Training Squadron are putting their skills to the
test during the annual, two-week Northern Lightning exercise at Volk Field,
Wisconsin, Aug. 13 – 24, 2018.
Northern Lightning is being hosted by the Volk Field Combat
Readiness Center, as one of seven Air National Guard joint accredited
exercises. Its purpose is to bring together 4th and 5th generation aircraft
from the Air National Guard, U.S. Navy and Marines.
“An exercise like Northern Lighting allows us to get that
readiness, that we would not get at say, Red Flag and Green Flag,” said U.S.
Air Force Col. David Lopez, 1st Operations Group commander. “It’s great
training for our pilots to make sure they are ready to go perform a mission in
combat.”
According to Lopez, the uniqueness of this exercise is how the
94th FS and 27th FS are operating. They are flying F-22 Raptors out of JBLE
each day for their missions and the 71st FTS is on location and flying out of
Volk Field, providing red air support.
While flying to the exercise, the pilots may have to refuel
or the scenarios may change. The young flight leads and mission commanders will
have to make the call, while in the air, to get gas or send jets into the fight
while others stay back for maintenance issues, Lopez continued.
While the F-22 Raptors may be flying from JBLE each day,
there are maintainers on location at Volk Field. The Airmen on the ground
recover the aircraft after the fight and perform any maintenance necessary
before sending the jets back to JBLE.
“There are a lot of moving parts with the way we are
executing this exercise,” Lopez said. “The maintainers working out there have
been excellent, the jets just keep coming back. “
According to Lopez, this exercise tested the abilities of
JBLE pilots and maintainers, challenging them to make the right call.
“(Northern Lightning has) been an appropriate amount of
challenge,” said Lopez. “That is the intent. The exercise was not supposed to
be easy, it is something that is outside the realm of normal for our team, to
give our Airmen that different experience.”