The squadron also makes good use of
its location and gives students an early
look at the fighter integration side of
things. The annual ‘Sentry Savannah’
exercise in Georgia affords the Raptor
students an ideal opportunity to work
with locally based F-15 and F-16s in large
exercise scenarios.AIR-TO-GROUND
The F-22’s combat debut came in the
early hours of September 23, 2014,
when aircraft from the 1st Fighter
Wing at JB Langley-Eustis — deployed
to the Arabian Gulf region — were
used to strike a command and control
centre in Raqqah in Syria. Raptors are
now permanently deployed to the
CENTCOM region and the type has
maintained an almost constant presence
in the Middle East to support Operation
‘Inherent Resolve’.The air-to-ground mission may have
been a late addition for the Raptor, but it
has become a useful string to its bow. For
the 43rd FS, this presents an opportunity
to weave an element of multi-role into
its training course. ‘We have the oldest
jets on the 43rd FS and these don’t have
the capability to drop SDB [GBU-39
Small Diameter Bomb], says ‘Burn’. ‘We
do, however, have a JDAM [Joint Direct
Attack Munition] capability through our
training modifications, so we focus on
that. In the sim’ we can do anything we
want. The students can train for the SDB
mission here, but they don’t get to live fly
that piece.’
The 43rd currently flies Increment
2-standard Raptors, which provided
a fairly rudimentary capability to
strike two fixed targets with GBU-31
JDAMs. Operational jets are upgraded
to Increment 3.1 standard and above,Right: The T-38A
Talons of the
2nd Fighter
Squadron,
co-located at
Tyndall, provide
the majority
of the ‘Red
Air’ aggressor
training for the
Raptor students.
USAF/MSgt Burt
TraynorBelow: F-22 pilots
still wear the
standard flying
helmet. Several
projects have
evaluated a
helmet-mounted
sight for the F-22,
but the design
of the canopy
restricts head
movement when
wearing these
bulky systems.
USAF(^44) RAPTOR
40-49 Raptor School C.indd 44 28/09/2017 11:41