combat aircraft

FS to assume control for the exercise.

Squadron commander Lt Col ‘Rabid’

said his squadron bought around 100

personnel to the UK, including nine

pilots. A large force exercise (LFE) such

as was arranged at Lakenheath was a

welcome opportunity for the Raptors to

engage in defensive counter-air (DCA)

tactics on a daily basis. ‘At home we [do]

this on average about once a month, but

the big bene t here is ‘learn today, apply

tomorrow’,’ said ‘Rabid’.

The exercise  tted well into the new

US Air Force posture for the high-end

 ght, rather than the air-to-ground

close air support (CAS) mindset that has

recently taken center stage. ‘Rabid’ says

the Raptor community is  ying more

DACT ‘across the board’. Interestingly,

despite the 1st Fighter Wing’s close

proximity to Super Hornets at NAS

Oceana, it was surprisingly rare for them

to work together. ‘We don’t do it very

often,’ he added.

This kind of  ghter integration reduces

the number of Raptors needed for

operations, making use of the fourth-

generation airframes. Back home at Joint

Base Langley-Eustis, the Raptors bene t

from the resident 71st Fighter Training

Squadron, which  ies the T-38A. The

advent of the new Boeing T-X aircraft

should free up T-38Cs, which may  ow

into squadrons like the 71st. ‘Rabid’ says

that would be ‘fantastic’, adding that the

T-38s add the mass that Raptors need to

train against. However, he acknowledges

that the new contracted ‘Red Air’

services coming to the Combat Air

Forces (CAF) will be extremely important

as they o er opponents with sensors

such as a radar and electronic attack.

‘We have to tax the system rather than

just sheer numbers, which is what we

do now with the T-38s,’ he says, adding

that the Lakenheath exercise o ered

both the numbers and the high-end

capabilities of the opponents.

The visiting  ghters and the resident

F-15Cs and Es took it in turns to act

as ‘Red Air’ aggressors. Lt Col William

Wooten, the 492nd FS commander told

Combat Aircraft, ‘This is like being on the

Nellis ranges — it’s a mini-‘Red Flag’ in

Above left to

right: A ‘Bolars’

F-15E tucks its

gear away as it

launches from

Lakenheath.

F-15C 84-0010

proudly carries its

Su-22 ‘kill’ from

Operation ‘Desert

Storm’.

Below: Capt

‘Vapor’ taxies in at

Lakenheath. The

morning sorties

tended to include

more assets — on

this occasion it

was a four-ship of

Raptors.

EXERCISE REPORT // RAF LAKENHEATH

86 December 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net