Misawa’s

48 // FEBRUARY 2018 #359 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

35th Fighter Wing

Misawa’s

Wild Weasels

former F-4 Phantom II operator at

George Air Force Base, California,

the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing was

inactivated on December 15, 1992. The wing

was briefly reactivated at Naval Air Station

Keflavik, Iceland, from where it secured the

North Atlantic region with F-15C/D Eagles,

before being inactivated again on September

30, 1994. A day later, it was resurrected

as the 35th Fighter Wing (FW) at Misawa

Air Base, where it assumed the missions

and responsibilities previously performed

by the 432nd FW. It also took the radio

call ‘Magnum’ – the code word for

an anti-radar missile shot.

Today, the 35th FW’s two squadrons of

F-16s both focus on the SEAD or ‘Wild

Weasel’ role. The 13th Fighter Squadron (FS)

‘Panthers’ and the 14th FS ‘Samurais’ are each

assigned the Block 50 version of the F-16,

designed with the ‘Weasel’ mission in mind.

There is little in the way of day-to-day

differences between the work of the two

squadrons, as Colonel R Scott Jobe, the

commander of the 35th FW, explained to

AFM: “The squadrons have robust histories

and a friendly rivalry, but both work toward

the same goals and mission sets. We have an

integrated wing training plan that maintains

peak readiness in the SEAD

mission set through a phased-based approach.

Essentially, each squadron is focusing on

different areas of the 35th Fighter Wing mission

allowing one squadron to be 100% ready

to ‘fight tonight’ while the other is training

building-block skills and upgrades for pilots.”

Pacifi c pivot

As the boss of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF),

General Terrence O’Shaughnessy has a gimlet

eye on air power assets in theatre – and the

potential threats across the Indo-Asia-Pacific

region. When he took up his post in July

2016, Gen O’Shaughnessy, a former

fighter pilot with 3,000 hours in the

A

Right: A pair of 35th Fighter Wing Block

50 F-16Cs – 90-0805 ‘WW/35OG’ and

90-0808 ‘WW/35FW’ – displays a typical

SEAD load-out of AGM-88 HARMs plus

AIM-120 AMRAAMs, AIM-9 Sidewinders

and AN/ALQ-184 electronic warfare pods

for self-defence. Both jets wear the red/

yellow tailfi n and dual squadron markings

associated with the 35th Operations Group.

All photos Jim Haseltine unless stated