Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 Raptor fighters have been sent to the Middle East on their first operational deployment, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The undisclosed number of stealth jets will be part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, where their duties are expected to range from bombing Islamic State targets to escorting other aircraft and acting as sensor suites for flying missions.
More than 200 members of the Hawaii Air National Guard and active-duty Air Force out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam are on the six-month deployment to the U.S. Central Command “area of responsibility.” F-22 aircraft and most of the airmen departed Saturday, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony.
For security reasons, the deployment was announced only after the planes and crew arrived at the base they will operate from, the Hawaii National Guard said. Because of “security considerations and host nation sensitivities,” the Guard said it is not releasing the base or country of operation.
In 2010 the Air Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron converted to the F-22 from the F-15 Eagle and began flying the Raptors in partnership with the active-duty 19th Fighter Squadron. Twenty of the stealthy jets are based in Hawaii, with two usually in maintenance.
“I think this is really the culmination of training up the Raptors,” Anthony said.
Maintenance and other support personnel are from the Air Guard’s 154th Wing and active-duty 15th Wing.
Six Hawaii Raptors and more than 100 airmen who participated in an exercise in Malaysia in 2014 made history as the first F-22 deployment to Southeast Asia. Exercise Cope Taufan also represented the first foreign deployment for the Hawaii jets, which received full operational status in 2013.
This is the first combat deployment for the 199th Fighter Squadron since it deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2000 to patrol the southern no-fly zone of Iraq, the Hawaii Guard said.
The costly F-22 fighter about a year ago chalked up its first combat mission, striking an Islamic State headquarters in Syria. The planes have operated out of Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates.
The Raptors’ use has included close air support engagements, including a June 23 attack on two field artillery pieces operated by the Islamic State, the Air Force said.
The pair of Raptors flying over Syria each released multiple satellite-guided bombs, destroying the targets, the service said.
Weeks later another pair of F-22s flying over Iraq conducted a similar short-notice airstrike, releasing two GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions and destroying two Islamic State fighting positions in Iraq’s western Anbar province, according to the Air Force.
The missions aren’t the type of air-to-air combat and precision strikes against highly defended ground targets the high-tech fighter was designed for. F-22s, at about $190 million each, are the Air Force’s most advanced fighter. The jets are capable of speeds of more than 1,500 mph and have a radar-evading design.
“Just because our airplane was intended to do other missions doesn’t mean we can’t adapt, innovate and become more relevant to the current fight,” the Air Force last month quoted an F-22 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander in Southwest Asia as saying. The commander was identified only as Lt. Col. “J.”
“Our goal is to provide the air and ground commanders the effects they need today,” he said. “I believe we can do that without sacrificing our core competencies.”
The 95th Fighter Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida returned in May after completing its first Raptor combat deployment to Southwest Asia. Six F-22s and more than 200 airmen deployed, the Air Force said.
The Hawaii Air Guard will be able to continue its day-to-day air defense mission over Hawaii with Raptor fighters remaining in the state, Anthony said.
