Alaska’s Mixed Raptor Team Boffo

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org

In a first deployment for the F-22 Raptor team at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, a team of 132 active and Air Force Reserve Command airmen worked together during a two-week Combat Archer live-fire exercise at Tyndall AFB, Fla., checking off a “successful” enterprise that puts the Alaska team “one step closer to initial operational capability,” said Maj. David Piffarerio, exercise project officer. Piffarerio, who is a pilot with AFRC’s 302nd Fighter Squadron activated just last fall, noted that 14 out of 16 missiles fired during the exercise met weapons system evaluation program “hit criteria and passed with the lethal radius or hit the [target] drone.” Capt. Megan Rogers, deployed maintenance commander from the active 3rd Wing, said, “I have to look at the patches to tell who is from the [Reserve] 477th Fighter Group and who is from the 3rd Wing.” With the 477th FG serving in a classic associate role, sharing operations and maintenance duties on the Raptors, the captain said, the Reservists “will bring experience to our mission … [and] provide continuity.” (Elmendorf report by Capt. Torri White)

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org