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F-35A joins red Flag-Alaska, soars to new heights

by Airman 1st Class other F-35s and F-22s to make a large-force
AARON LARue GueRRISKY exercise.”
Christensen mentioned pilots train on a
354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
basic, fundamental skills-type progression,
eIeLSON AIR FORCe BASe, Alaska which means pilots start at basic skills and
— Throughout the years, numerous types work up to advanced tactics. RF-A offers a
of aircraft have flown in the Alaskan skies realistic combat feeling for pilots to train
during Red Flag-Alaska. This year, a new exactly how they fight, he said.
fifth-generation fighter joins the fight. “They can simulate that environment
The 356th Fighter Squadron and 388th here at Red Flag with the 353rd CTS
Fighter Wing’s F-35A Lightning IIs are the (Combat Training Squadron) and in the
first F-35s to participate in the U.S. Pacific JPARC,” Christensen said. “They can give
Air Forces-sponsored exercise. us realistic threats, jam our communica-
“The purpose of Red Flag-Alaska is tions, jam our navigation systems and they
to provide training for the aircrew par- can give us these problems that I want my
ticipating on the blue-air side in order to young wingmen and my experienced flight
increase mission readiness and prepare Aaron larue guerrisky leads to experience.”
them for combat operations,” said Lt. Col. An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Now that the 354th FW established the
Randolph Kinsey, 18th Aggressor Squadron approaches the flightline during Red Flag-Alaska (RF-A) 20-3 at Eielson Air Force F-35 in Alaska and will grow with a second
commander. Base, Alaska, Aug. 10, 2020. RF-A executes the world’s premier tactical joint and F-35 squadron, the goal for future exercises
Unlike recent RF-A exercises, the F-35s coalition air combat employment exercise, designed to replicate the stresses that is to see even more fifth-generation aircraft
have given the 354th FW a chance to have warfighters face during their first eight to 10 combat sorties. from Pacific partners join the fight.
the ‘home team’ play as blue air to enhance “What we need to do in the future and
their warfighting capabilities. what we have planned for the next Red
“We’ve been flying F-35s for the past generations of aircraft,” Christensen said. as the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. Flag iteration later this year is we are going
three months and this is the first Red Flag “This Red Flag is really unique because we “What we had to do is get our pilots to start bringing in partner countries and
exercise for the 356th FS,” said Lt. Col. now have all fifth-generation fighters on the ready for this Red Flag by flying as much allies from across INDOPACOM,” Chris-
James Christensen, 356th FS commander. blue side. When we combine those forces as we possibly could to get proficient in the tensen said. “There are F-35s that are going
The presence of fifth-generation aircraft together, we can be more lethal.” airplane,” Christensen said. “For us, this out to Australia, Japan and Korea, and in
makes this iteration of RF-A a bit different Once the 356th FS received its first is kind of the intro to the airspace and an the future we want to bring those F-35s up
from past exercises. F-35s in April, the F-35 pilots wasted no intro to four-ship tactics. This is the first here and practice and train … so that we
“The F-35 brings more information to time learning the ins and outs of RF-A’s time we’ve flown four aircraft together at have a standard set of tactics, techniques
the airspace than we’ve had in previous 77,000-square mile playground, also known the same time and we are combining the and procedures.”

Airman 1st Class Ryan Girouex, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, extinguishes a fire on a shed on Soaring Eagle Trail in Vacaville, Calif., Aug. 20, 2020. The 60th CES
loaned 28 personnel and five trucks to aid in the fight against the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, a cluster of fires that forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

Travis AFB firefighters help local

community battle Solano wildfires

Story and photo by area to safeguard homes. Over the course of the next Muncy also said the fire needed as much containment
Nicholas Pilch 48 hours, the base dispatched 28 firefighters with Beale as possible, so more crews dispatched from Travis AFB.
AFB contributing an additional eight firefighters, four Ricardo Campos, 60th CES captain, and his crew were
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
from a specialty wildfire unit. The 36 firefighters were initially dispatched near Interstate 80; however, they
TRAVIS AIR FORCe BASe, Calif. (AFNS) — Air- dispatched to 10 locations. were re-routed to prevent the destruction of a neighbor-
men from Travis Air Force Base’s 60th Civil Engineer “A lot of the fire was not directly near the road,” hood near Sales Lane in Fairfield.
Squadron responded to the LNU Lightning Complex said Kevin Bouillon, 60th CES battalion chief. “The “If the fire broke through, there it would’ve been
fire to support the Vacaville Fire Protection District’s crews had to connect hoses together that reached as possible for that fire to take out acres of land passing
firefighting effort, Aug. 19. long as a thousand feet because the fire needed to be through those residences and would destroy possibly
The fire started in Napa, California as the result extinguished.” hundreds of acres of residential homes past it,” Cam-
of a lightning storm, and quickly spread through the The 60th CES dispatched five trucks in total, one pos said.
area to Vacaville and Fairfield — both of which border normally being a specialty truck used to put out fires Firefighters from across the county are actively trying
Travis AFB. Tens of thousands of people were forced on aircraft. to contain the fire in Napa and Solano counties.
to evacuate their homes in Napa and Solano counties “Containing the fire is difficult because winds shifted “A fire this size, there is no way you can contain it in
through the duration of the day. later in the day,” said Staff Sgt. James Muncy, 60th a day,” said Bouillon. “The ongoing relationship with
In the early hours of Aug. 19, Travis AFB initially CES crew chief. “Trees were falling, and various fires the local stations allows us to assist in working a fire
dispatched a four-person crew to the Cherry Glenn were reigniting.” like this.”