Story by Master Sgt. Daniel Reed
Six F-15 Eagles and approximately 120 Airmen from the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Ore. journeyed across the Pacific Ocean to Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam, Hawaii to participate in exercise Sentry Aloha.
Designated Sentry Aloha 25-2, this exercise took place April 8-17. Sentry Aloha brought together six different locations from across the country to include members all the way from Australia.
Sentry Aloha is an exercise built around Dissimilar Air Combat Training, which provides pilots with the ability to engage in combat scenarios against aircraft with different capabilities and performance. Training against dissimilar airframes forces pilots to adapt to unpredictable engagements, which test their ability to utilize their platforms strengths while exploiting their enemies’ weaknesses.
Team Kingsley Airmen worked directly with the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing and the 19th Fighter Squadron to play “Red Air” and “Blue Air” with their F-22 Raptors. This game of cat and mouse allows both sides to hone their skills while flying with other airframes that are not stationed alongside one another.
“When we bring together fourth and fifth generation fighter aircraft it is key to providing Air Force pilots with real world situations while testing their personal capabilities to better prepare to fight against any given aircraft,” said Maj. Derek Kear, 173rd FW Sentry Aloha project officer. “Our presence provided robust red air threat replication that they are unable to produce organically from within their squadron.”
He went on to add that the F-15s delivered invaluable basic fighter maneuver training replicating “high off boresight heat threat”, meaning threats that are at a long distance and out of direct visual range.
During Sentry Aloha, the F-15s were able to complete more than 190 flying hours and 79 sorties, without any major maintenance issues during the exercise.
“The professionalism and capabilities of the Airmen working in maintenance was pivotal to the continual sortie generation during the exercise,” said Major Eric McDaniel, 173rd FW maintenance officer in charge. “This is a very impressive feat when working with an aging aircraft nearing the end of its life span and is a testament of the skills and talents our maintainers bring to the table.”
Alongside the training flights, approximately 21 Airmen also had the opportunity to participate in familiarization flights in the backseat of the F-15 Eagles to include members of the 154th Wing. This experience allowed Airmen who performed excellent work throughout the year to experience firsthand the fruits of their labor in the flight of a lifetime over the turquoise waters of the Hawaiian Islands.
“It is amazing to witness firsthand, the efforts from airmen behind the scenes to repair and get the aircraft back on the flying schedule for the next sortie is unbelievable,” said McDaniel. “To get some of the maintainers in the back seat of the D-models, and give them an opportunity to experience a flight, was awesome to see the excitement and emotions on their faces after landing.”
McDaniel was quick to applaud the team effort that went into accomplishing Sentry Aloha.
“Our team is the best and it shows as what we are preparing for with the F-15 sunset is a once in a generational event,” said McDaniel. “It is somewhat melancholy knowing this our last time taking the F-15’s to Sentry Aloha, but it was amazing to see how well the aircraft handled with the high sortie generation operations tempo against the F-22’s.”
