Moment of downtime gives RAAF, RAF maintainers chance to view Raptor

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Sanjay Allen
  • Red Flag Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. --  About 15 Australian and British airmen got a chance to view an F-22 Raptor up close during Red Flag 10-3 and talk with a couple maintainers about what it is like to work on one of the world's newest fighter jets on the Red Flag flight line.

Just after the daily launches, the airmen from the 1st Fighter Squadron, Royal air force Cottesmore, U.K., and the 77th Squadron, Royal Australian air force Base Williamtown, Australia, strolled across the centerline where they met with Staff Sgt. Robert Wade, avionics and electrics technician with the 7th Aircraft Maintenance Unit at Holloman AFB, N.M.

Sergeant Wade said it was a good chance for them to build camaraderie through something they had in common -- aircraft maintenance. And all the maintainers shared the feelings of the friendly gathering.

"It was very friendly and informative," said Flight Lt. Gary Poulson, 1st FS. "It was nice to be asked to come over and look at the jet. They were open and honest about our questions, with their limits."

Because of security protocols, the group viewed the Raptor from a short distance, but the Australian, British and American maintainers still made the most of it and talked about what it is like to work on the U.S. Air Force's fifth-generation fighter compared to some legacy aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15 Eagle.

"I liked getting into the jet and getting dirty when I would troubleshoot," said Sergeant Wade. "Now it's a lot cleaner and easier to maintain and troubleshoot than it was on a legacy aircraft."

Aside from the maintenance being different and cleaner, the Australian and British maintainers were amazed by another feature of the Raptor -- it's size.

"The aircraft is surprisingly quite big," said Sergeant Steve Moult, 77th Squadron. "I thought it might be smaller."

Seeing how big it really is surprised some of them with how it was able to integrate all the systems and capabilities.

"My first impression from a technical view was of how they were able to integrate everything into it and be able to maintain a traditional design and keep it (stealth)," said Sgt. Damian "Buzz" Ewing, 77th Squadron. "It was good to get as close as we were able to and see it in 3-D."

Although they weren't able to get too close, it was still closer than pictures or sitting across from the ramp for the first week of the exercise.

The Australian F/A-18 Hornets have been sitting just beyond the centerline, no more than 150 feet from the Raptors, and the GR-9 Harriers from Cottesmore can't be more than a football field away, but it's the closest any of them have gotten yet, and they enjoyed every moment.

Red Flag is an advanced aerial combat exercise where aircrews from the U.S. and allied nations train in realistic aerial war scenarios over the Nevada Test and Training Range in the southern part of the state. The nations, along with the U.S., participating in Red Flag 10-3 are Australia and and United Kingdom.