Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska -- Citizen Airmen from the 477th Fighter Group, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, joined forces with the Alaska Air National Guard and the active-duty Air Force for Hungry Hungry Halibut, a high-end integration air war exercise in early August.
The exercise provided the participants with unique opportunities to integrate and train from simulated forward operating bases throughout Alaska. It also allowed Airmen to practice Agile Combat Employment forward area refueling point (FARP) procedures, rapid beyond-line-of-sight communication methods and downed-pilot drills in the Gulf of Alaska.
“This was a joint effort,” said Master Sgt. Kyle Grolemund, 477th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron avionics flight chief. “Working and planning with our active-duty and Alaska Guard counterparts allowed members to branch out from their normal day-to-day functions and broaden their knowledge for a future confrontation.”
Hungry Hungry Halibut tested new integrated capabilities to support operations and identify deficiencies in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. Participants practiced loading weapons, swapping aircrews, gaining updated situational awareness and intelligence while receiving orders from command and control, protecting forces while on the ground in high-threat areas, and refueling.
“Many members performed Multi-Capable Airman functions while assisting other career fields, such as launching, recovering and debriefing aircraft,” Grolemund said. “This will not be simply needed, but required in a high-end, minimally-manned fight.”
Agile Combat Employment is a key operating concept for how the Air Force will fight in a modern, contested environment. When applied correctly, ACE complicates the enemy’s targeting process, creates political and operational dilemmas for the enemy, and creates flexibility for friendly forces.
Realistic combat training is essential to the success of air and space operations.
“The significance of practicing exercises like HHH and events like FARP or downed-pilot drills puts operators out of their comfort zone and into a different mindset,” explained a 302nd Fighter Squadron F-22 Raptor pilot. “During these training events, the F-22 pilots are now the supporting asset instead of the supported asset, which, in the long term, will pay huge dividends to our community.”
Agile Combat Employment shifts the generation of airpower from large, centralized bases to networks of smaller, dispersed locations or cluster bases to increase survivability and complicate adversary planning.
“HHH prepares us for Agile Combat Employment operations in a wartime scenario,” Grolemund said. “Continuously practicing and streamlining our FARP operations will better prepare Airmen to be able to maneuver in and out of austere locations quickly and efficiently, with aircraft on the ground and out of the conflict for as minimal time as possible.”
A FARP provides refueling and rearming to rotary or fixed-wing assets in austere environments, extending the reach and capacity of forward air operations. During HHH, C-17 Globemaster III and HC-130 Hercules aircraft provided fuel, munitions and support equipment for the F-22 Raptors as they landed in remote locations throughout Alaska.
“We provide combat air power and are the unrivaled leaders in air superiority by request now and in the future,” said Master Sgt. Christopher Graham, 477th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief. “This exercise of HHH truly executed our mission and vision – exactly how the 477th Fighter Group operates and succeeds.”
(Lawton is assigned to the 477th Fighter Group public affairs office.)