Some F-22 Raptor fighters will be taking off early Friday from Honolulu Airport with a telltale roar to head to a training destination for live-fire missile practice in shooting down drone aircraft.
The rare live-fire training comes with the Pentagon moving the advanced F-35B Lightning II fighter to Japan, deploying 12 Alaska-based F-22s to Australia, and with the Air Force seeking increased live-fire air-to-surface bomber and fighter practice off Kauai due to “threats to national security.”
In the Pacific, that means China and Russia.
The Hawaii National Guard said the undisclosed number of Raptors will take off during pre-dawn hours Friday — and are likely to create a racket.
“The early morning departures are necessitated by a requirement for the Raptors to land at their destination during daylight hours,” the Guard said in a release, apologizing in advance for the noise.
Where the F-22s are deploying for the training isn’t being revealed — until they arrive. The Hawaii Raptors are from the Air Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron and the active duty Air Force’s 19th Fighter Squadron.
“It’s Hawaii Air National Guard practice not to disclose location — even routine training locations — until after they arrive,” said Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, a Guard spokesman.
The Raptors “will be deploying to a location where the pilots will be able to conduct live-fire training that is essential for maintaining their aerial combat skills,” the Guard said.
Policy regarding what information is and isn’t released about F-22 deployments is sometimes contradictory.
Pacific Air Forces, headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, reported on Feb. 9 that 12 Raptors and about 190 airmen from Alaska were being sent to Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal to conduct training with Australian counterparts.
The three-week mission marks the longest and largest rotation of “fifth-generation” stealth fighters to the country, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly reported.
“This F-22 Raptor deployment represents a key milestone for U.S. and Australian airmen as together we build a robust fifth-generation fighter presence in the Indo-Asia-Pacific,” Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said in a release.
Anthony said it’s rare for Hawaii Raptors to get to practice firing actual missiles or drop live bombs around Hawaii. Rim of the Pacific maritime exercises held every other year are one such opportunity for live fire at sea.
“When they are doing aerial dogfights here, it’s all done with computers. It’s simulated (missile) launches,” Anthony said. At Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, dummy GBU-38 500-pound bombs are dropped.
Periodically, Hawaii F-22s are sent to one of three or four different locations in the world with the capability to conduct live-fire training, he said.
The Air Force in December requested permission from the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct certain harassment of 16 species of whales and dolphins during operational evaluation of air-to-surface long-range strike weapons and other munitions 50 miles off Kauai at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
Fighters and bombers from across the country — including Hawaii-based F-22s — would use the range and in the case of visiting units, Hickam, as a temporary stop-off point. Missions would occur annually between 2017 and 2021, primarily in the summer but also possibly in the fall as well.
