Elmendorf Gets High-Tech F-22 Facility

A new $6.2 million training facility opened for F-22 maintainers at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The facility features five fully automated classrooms and an engine lab. Instructors with Elmendorf’s 372nd Training Squadron, Det. 14, will be able to teach 34 of the 40 F-22 maintenance courses in the facility. “It’s like going from an F-15 to an F-22. It’s that same advance in technology,” said SMSgt. David Nye, detachment chief, in describing the facility, which officially opened on Sept. 26. He added, “The potential is endless as to what courses we can create and teach.” The engine lab is modeled after the actual shops where the student maintainers will eventually be working. In it, they will learn how to tear down, build up, and troubleshoot the F-22’s F119 engines. (Elmendorf-Richardson report by Curt Biberdorf)