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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      F-22 Raptors assigned to the Hawaii Air National Guard 199th Fighter Squadron and the active duty 19th Fighter Squadron are staged on the flightline of Marine Corps Base Kaneohe, Hawaii, March 3, 2022, during Agile Combat Employment exercise Hoʻoikaika. ACE is an operational concept that leverages networks of well-established and austere air bases, multi-capable airmen, pre-positioned equipment, and airlift to rapidly deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability throughout a theater.F-22 Raptors assigned to Hawaii Air National Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron and 19th Fighter Squadron are staged on Marine Corps Base Kaneohe, Hawaii, March 3, 2022, during Agile Combat Employment exercise Hoʻoikaika. ACE is an operational concept that leverages networks of well-established and austere air bases, multi-capable airmen, pre-positioned equipment, and airlift to rapidly deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability throughout a theater. (Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. John Linzmeier)
                
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        A Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 Raptor pilot from the 199th Fighter Squadron returns from a training sortie March 4, 2022, at Hilo International Airport, Hawaii. Ho`oikaika was carried out by total force Airmen from the Hawaii Air National Guard, the Nevada ANG and their active-duty counterparts from the 15th Wing and 354th Fighter Wing.A Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 Raptor pilot from the 199th Fighter Squadron returns from a training sortie March 4, 2022, at Hilo International Airport, Hawaii. Ho`oikaika was carried out by total force Airmen from the Hawaii Air National Guard, the Nevada ANG and their active-duty counterparts from the 15th Wing and 354th Fighter Wing. (Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. John Linzmeier)
                
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Ho'oikaika strengthens total force integrationPublished March 15, 2022
                    
                    By 154th Wing Public Affairs
            **JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) --**The Hawaii**Air National Guard**’s**154th Wing**executed a first-of-its-kind exercise partnering with the Nevada Air National Guard,**15th Wing**, and**354th Fighter Wing**Airmen March 3-6.
The exercise name,Ho’oikaika, originates from the Hawaiian language, meaning to strengthen and to encourage, as it challenged total force Airmen to mobilize and generate stealth airpower from three locations throughout the multi-island state.In a rapid dispersal of**F-22 Raptors**, the training relied heavily on airlift capabilities, provided by**C-17 Globemaster III**s and visiting**C-130J Super Hercules**from Nevada, each delivering support packages to the forward-operating locations at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe and Hilo International Airport.
“Ho’oikaika is a new way of conducting exercises,” said the 154th Wing inspector general,” gently getting rid of as many simulations as we can by uniquely challenging the skill sets of our Airmen. We’ve never seen an exercise that is being challenged in multiple locations for a single organization.”Teams of support Airmen poured out of each cargo aircraft, setting up a mobile infrastructure to provide for aircraft maintenance, weapon systems, navigational equipment, communication stations, security details, a single pallet expeditionary kitchen and more.
Capt. Jonothan Harris, 15th Wing Agile Combat Employment chief and Kaneohe MCB exercise lead, explained the top three goals: to continue generating airpower from airlift, evaluate command and control decisions and actions, and test their interoperable communications.
“Having airlift compete with inter-theater requirements versus what the hub and spokes need and seeing leadership command team make the decisions process of how we could get the people and parts in the right place at the right time to get F-22s airborne while still their ATO missions, definitely tests that airlift opportunity,” Harris said.
Unlike previous exercises, participants were challenged to step outside the boundaries of their specialized career fields as part of the Air Force’s multi-capable Airman initiative. Members on the ground parted with their regular duty sections and assisted with critical flight line operations, granting new levels of authority to exercise ‘players’ and making a more autonomous force.
While only three days,Ho’oikiakia was an exercise within an exercise, with all activities in between the routinely held dissimilar aircraft training event, Pacific Raptor 22-1.Past iterations of Pacific Raptor focused on locally generated combat training between the Hawaiian Raptors, enabled by full-time staff and visiting partners, such as the 18th Aggressor Squadron**F-16 Fighting Falcons**from Alaska. But for the duration ofHo’oikaika, most of the 154th Wing was activated to employ the same airpower from each alternate location.“Our mission is to be able to deploy anytime, anywhere,” said Airman 1st Class John Vasko, 292nd Combat Communications Squadron radio frequency transmission systems apprentice. “Wehave to be able to set up communication links from one point to another anywhere in the world. Being able to communicate enables the rest of the services to work more effectively together.”LR 



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