US airmen bring fifth-generation capabilities to Europe

Airmen deployed from the active duty 388th and Reserve 419thFighter Wings at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, recently wrapped up the U.S. AirForce F-35A Lightning II's first participation in a large Europeanair-and-missile defense exercise.

The focus of the multi-national exercise, Astral Knight2019, was to defend several key areas of terrain from cruise-missile andaircraft strikes. During the exercise, U.S. military forces worked closely withcoalition forces from Croatia, Italy and Slovenia at various locations acrossEurope, carrying out operational and cyber scenarios.

From June 3-6, Hill’s 421st Fighter Squadron (FS) flew eightsorties per day in the exercise and met all of their frontline requirements.

“It’s hard to appreciate the challenges if you’ve never beenin an exercise like this before. We’re bridging commands, services, countriesand continents,” said Lt. Col. Richard Orzechowski, 421st FS commander. “Wehave some really smart, dedicated problem-solvers who helped us overcome theearly hurdles that are going to be present at the start of any conflict orlarge, integrated exercise.”

Strategists say that integration, a key theme of AstralKnight, will be essential in any future war, and one of the main technologicaldesign features of the F-35A is interoperability.

“It’s truly rewarding to see that we can leverage all thecapabilities of the F-35A, which we have all been working toward,” said Lt.Col. Brad Klemesrud, deputy commander of the 419th Operations Group. “In an exercisethis large and complex, you get the opportunity to see how theory meets realityand put into practice what’s only been on paper.”

For the first time, U.S. Air Force F-35As integratedoperationally with Italian Air Force F-35As and communicated with each otherover the Multifunction Advanced Data Link, a system unique to the platform.

“Bringing together multiple nations for an exercise of thisscope is crucial,” said Lt. Gen. Steven Basham, U.S. Air Forces Europe and AirForces Africa deputy commander. “It is vital that we continue to expand ourcapability to operate with each other and integrate fifth-generation assets,like the F-35.”

Hill’s F-35As also flew alongside Air Force F-16 FightingFalcons, KC-135 Stratotankers, E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control aircraftand B-52s. They also flew with coalition Eurofighter Typhoons and Mig 21s andintegrated with European-based U.S. Army missile-defense systems.

“The F-35’s sensors provide unmatched situational awarenessof the battlespace,” Orzechowski said. “Both us and the Italian F-35s are ableto share all of that information with other aircraft in the formation, withground-based missile systems, and we make everyone more lethal and survivable.The scenarios we saw really demanded that capability.”

The 421st FS is the newest fighter squadron in the Air Forceto stand up the F-35A. They received their first aircraft less than six monthsago. Planning and moving a dozen aircraft, hundreds of airmen, and hundreds ofthousands of pounds of equipment is a testament to the drive and training ofHill’s fighter wings, said Col. Michael Miles, 388th Maintenance Groupcommander.

“The F-35 is a challenging aircraft to pick up and movebecause of the amount of equipment fifth-generation maintenance requires,”Miles said. “But, with our airmen, we have everything we need to accomplish themission on a daily basis. We met all our sortie requirements and flyingobjectives for the exercise. This experience will allow our younger airmen tosee how we put a whole deployment together and will make them stronger,particularly as we move forward with combat operations in the F-35.”

Astral Knight is just the beginning of the squadron's time in Europe. They will transition to other locations throughout the summer as part of a European Theater Security Package.

Source: US Air Force