Alaska Flight 35 - Now with 54 F-35s on hand, Eilson Air Force Base in Alaska is fine-tuning how it operates its fleet and how it projects power overseas.
Two F-35s are assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing at Elson Air Force Base, Alaska. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jose Miguel T. Tamondong)
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It's cold. It's far. But with 54 F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, a location closer to Tokyo than Honolulu and easy access to a 77,000-square-mile training range, Eilson Air Force Base in Alaska is one of them. The US military's most strategic installations.
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Also, concerns about threats from China and Russia, the integration of the last of the F-35As into base operations, and the large force training exercise Red Flag Alaska 22-3 is coming to an end. The busiest.
A formation of F-35A Lightning II and F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing during a routine readiness exercise at Eilson Air Force Base, Alaska, May 20, 2022.
"There's a lot of activity going on here," Cole said. on Wednesday for the bed down.
The first pair of Lockheed Martin stealth fighters arrived at Eisenhower on April 21, 2020, and it was significant on several levels. This remote installation is located 26 miles southeast of Fairbanks in Alaska's interior and 110 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
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In a wide-ranging discussion about the importance of ongoing base operations, Berkeland and Lt. Col. Ryan "Voodoo" Worrell, commander of the 356th Fighter Squadron at Eilson, talked about everything from working on new ways to counter China's air defenses. The difference between flying an F-16 and an F-35 is what it's like to fly in the cold.
Air Force Col. David J. "Ajax" Berkeland, 354th Fighter Wing commander (left) and Lt. Col. Ryan "Voodoo" Worrell - 356th Fighter Squadron commander at Elson during an AFA virtual discussion Aug. 10.
The arrival of the last F-35s in April at Eisenhower, along with F-22 Raptors based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) near Anchorage, gives Alaska the "largest concentration of fifth-generation," combat-coded air power in the world.
It was one thing to have the full complement of 54 fighters observable in one place. But now is the time to shift gears, Berkeland said.
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"Our priority is basically to get into full operational capability so we can conduct agile combat employment (ACE) operations in austere locations throughout the Pacific [area of operations]," Berkeland said. "So for us, that means we need to be able to conduct hub and voice operations with our full complement of fifth-generation combat airpower."
U.S. He was referring to the possible deployment of Elson-based F-35s to support Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom).
"With one fighter jet, we can easily reach any AOR in the Northern Hemisphere," he said.
Advanced training is being conducted at Eisenhower, and bed-down rotation forces continue to arrive in Alaska.
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One of the things that makes Eilsen important is its proximity to the Alaska Joint Pacific Range Complex (JPRC), a large set of controlled airspace that provides a realistic training environment and allows commanders to train for the full range of engagements, from individual to an individual. . Capabilities for complex and large collaborative interactions.
"You don't have to ask me," Berkeland said of the value of JPARC. "Ask any of the attendees at this Red Flag Alaska what they think of JPARC and they will tell you this - the best training airport in the world."
A Pacific Air Force Base (PACAF)-sponsored exercise, Red Flag Alaska 22-3 "is designed to provide real-world training in a simulated combat environment," PACAF said in a statement. "The series of command-directed field training exercises will provide joint air attack, interdiction, close air support and mass employment training for the force.
Red Flag Alaska "is a joint international major flying exercise where we take different squadrons from all war zones around the world and create a scenario where they have to integrate and fight as a team," Lt. Col. James said. Collins, commander of the 353rd Fighter Training Squadron.
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About 2,200 soldiers from 25 units flew, maintained and supported more than 115 aircraft during this iteration of the exercise. These include several US Air Force and Navy units and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Army troops who "train together to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving the combat readiness of all participating forces."
Awarded to the US Marine Corps Squadron 225 F-35B Lightning II taxiing after landing on Red Flag Alaska 22-3 at Eilson Air Force Base, Alaska. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Shannon Bratton)
"This iteration marks the first time a Marine Corps F-35 has operated in the RAAF's E-7, combining with Elson Air Force Base's own F-35s in addition to Kunzan and Kadena and Navy F-16s. And RAAF Super Hornets," Collins said. "One of the great things about this exercise is learning how to integrate with our allies and partners."
But even with all that's going on at JPARC, efforts are underway to make that range even better, Berkeland said.
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"We are actively engaged in modernizing JPARC to expand vertically and horizontally in coordination with our partners in Alaska, as well as upgrade surface and air threat replication capabilities," he said. "So that's kind of what's going on here."
The importance of JPARC is underscored by the overall concern about the need to have more airspace for fifth-generation fighter training.
For example, in July, the 414th Fighter Training Squadron and the Federal Aviation Administration collaborated to expand the training area available during Exercise Red Flag at Nellis to nearly three times the size of previous iterations.
"This is the first Red Flag exercise to feature fifth-generation attackers, using long-range strikes and countermeasures to provide a more realistic threat simulation for exercise participants," the Air Force said in a statement at the time. "The expansion of airspace has allowed training to align more closely with the national defense strategy's focus on the pace of the challenge."
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It was used during the latest iteration of Red Flag from Nellis AFB, an airspace well-regarded at Eelson.
"The biggest thing we're starting to see when both squadrons are fully established is that we have the ability to conduct full-scale exercises with 48 F-35s," said Worrell, who commands one of the two Aielson F-35 squadrons. Another is the 356th Fighter Squadron.
"We can easily integrate with the predators from the south." So we do integration with the raptors at JPARC on a quarterly basis... I mean, we call the brothers out on the street, ... we can train in one summer, so that's a big advantage of being here in Alaska.
F-35s at Ailson and F-22s at JBER train daily with the 18th Aggressor Squadron at JPARC.
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Eielson AFB is also home to the 18th Fighter Squadron flying F-16Cs, which work to challenge local F-35s and F-22s on a daily basis. (US Air Force photo by Alejandro Peña)
"JPARC is the size of the state of Indiana," Berkeland said. "If anyone on the line is from Texas, I apologize in advance, but if you cut Alaska in half and made two states, Texas would be the third largest state after the two Alaskas.
JPARC's vast expanse, along with the F-35's capabilities, make it an ideal training ground against potential Chinese air defense threats, Berkeland said.
"When you look at what the advanced threats are, they're getting more lethal and they're getting more lethal in terms of the air defense system's ability to detect, target and then engage our joint forces." " he said. "So having a range like JPARC and all the different assets between us and the third wing in Elmendorf allows us to train for high war and also allows us to have room to innovate tactics, techniques and procedures. Survive and be deadly in that advanced threat environment. We definitely keep a close eye on all the developments around the world that our competitors follow and we train for that every day.
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During training for those advanced threats, Worrell said, “We found that stealth is not the ultimate answer, but it is an entry-level requirement. If you don't bring your A-game from the start, you don't have much flexibility
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