F-22 Raptor News

June 15, 2007 (by A1C Anthony J. Hyatt) - On June 3rd, six F-22s deployed from Tyndall AFB, Fla. to Nellis AFB, Nev. for two weeks to provide support to the United States Air Force weapons school during the mission employment phase.
As a result of the deployment, the Air Force was able to learn some specific lessons on how to integrate the F-22 with a variety of other weapon platforms.

While at Nellis AFB, the F-22s pilots worked with aircrews of B-2s, B-52s, F-15s, F-16s, A-10s, AWACS, tankers and many other aircrafts.

"The Raptor performed flawlessly and amazed all who integrated with it," said Maj. Lansing Pilch, 43rd FS director of operations.

The deployment not only benefited the Air Force as a team, but also benefited the pilots assigned to the 43rd Fighter Squadron.

"The 43rd pilots received invaluable training in three areas: Joint Direct Attack Munitions employment, low-altitude training and large-force exercise employment," said Major Pilch.

The F-22 carries 1000-pound JDAMs that are inertial navigation system-guided and global positioning system-guided. They are all-weather and an extremely accurate weapon that gives the Raptor a viable air-to-ground capability.

In today's expeditionary Air Force, deployments have increased.

"The deployment gave the Airmen of the 43rd FS great experience deploying and operating from a new location," said Maj. Pilch.

"The maintainers and operators of the 43rd FS team combined to make the Nellis deployment a great success," said Major Pilch. "The 43rd FS is looking forward to our next opportunity to showcase our true capabilities."

The six F-22s will return back to Tyndall Saturday.