Before You Know It

The Hawaii Air National Guardsmen of the 199th Fighter Squadron are working toward arrival of the first of the unit’s 20 new F-22 stealth fighters in June 2010, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Faurot, the Air Guard’s F-22 integration project officer. The Air Force announced in 2006 that Raptors would go to Hickam Air Force Base, where they would be operated and maintained predominantly by the Air Guard, which will have an active associate unit, the 531st Fighter Squadron. The Honolulu Star Bulletin reports that Faurot said the first group of Hawaii ANG pilots will have completed four months training, switching from the F-15 to F-22, when the first of the unit’s Raptors arrives. And, the unit’s maintainers will begin their training in late 2009. Over the next five years, the newspaper reported that the service plans to renovate or build new some 20 facilities to accommodate the F-22 operations.