A new $6.2 million training facility opened for F-22 maintainers at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The facility features five fully automated classrooms and an engine lab. Instructors with Elmendorf’s 372nd Training Squadron, Det. 14, will be able to teach 34 of the 40 F-22 maintenance courses in the facility. “It’s like going from an F-15 to an F-22. It’s that same advance in technology,” said SMSgt. David Nye, detachment chief, in describing the facility, which officially opened on Sept. 26. He added, “The potential is endless as to what courses we can create and teach.” The engine lab is modeled after the actual shops where the student maintainers will eventually be working. In it, they will learn how to tear down, build up, and troubleshoot the F-22’s F119 engines. (Elmendorf-Richardson report by Curt Biberdorf)
A recent injection of $475 million has reversed delayed delivery timelines for the Pentagon’s hypersonic missile interceptor by several years, Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told congressional leaders in an April 15 hearing.