F-22s from storm-damaged Florida coming to Hawaii

With Hurricane Michael causing widespread destruction at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida — home of the largest concentration of F-22 Raptors — the Air Force is parceling out the stealth fighters to other operating locations, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

How many more F-22s are coming to Hawaii and for how long remains unclear; the Air Force as of Tuesday was still refining the plan.

“By the winter holidays and in many cases well before, we expect all our (Tyndall) airmen — military and civilians — to have certainty about their options, so that everyone is either on a path or already settled,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said in a recent release.

Tyndall had the greatest concentration of the advanced stealth fighters — 55 — in the Air Force. Personnel and 21 of the F-22s from the 95th Fighter Squadron will relocate to Hickam; Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.; and Joint Base Elmendorf-­Richardson, Alaska, according to the Air Force.

Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 hurricane Oct. 10, with Tyndall directly in its path. The flight line was “devastated,” with every building experiencing severe damage, the Air Force said after the storm. Aircraft and hangars were damaged. The Air Force has so far committed $100 million to the repair and recovery of the base.

Some missions will resume at Tyndall “in the next few months and others will shift to other locations for the time being. All but approximately 500 airmen will return to the Florida panhandle within one to three months,” the service said.

A July 18 government report, meanwhile, suggested that efficiencies could be gained by increasing the number of Raptors at operational bases.

Hawaii has 20 of the fighters, which along with other stealth attack aircraft and bombers would be key in the initial air campaign in a war with China. That’s the lowest operational number in the Air Force.

In the July 18 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said the Air Force’s organization of its relatively small F-22 fleet has not maximized the availability of its 186 aircraft.

That availability is constrained by maintenance challenges and unit organization. As an example, the GAO said stealth is a central feature of the F-22, and maintaining the stealth coating is time-consuming and significantly reduces the time F-22s are available for missions.

Maintenance challenges are exacerbated by the Air Force’s decision to organize the F-22 fleet into small units — 18 or 21 primary mission aircraft per squadron and one or two squadrons per wing. Traditional fighter wings have three squadrons per wing with 24 aircraft in each squadron, which creates maintenance efficiencies because people, equipment and parts can be shared, according to the GAO.

F-22 squadron officials in Hawaii stated that increasing their squadron by four additional aircraft would allow it to generate 32 percent more sorties, the report said.

GAO recommended that the Air Force conduct a comprehensive assessment of the F-22 organizational structure to see whether consolidating the fleet into larger squadrons would be beneficial.

In response, the Defense Department said it is a “national military priority” to ensure the small fleet of F-22s is optimally postured, and that the Air Force would conduct an assessment of home station organization.