Eagles, Falcons go head-to-head at Kadena

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rey Ramon
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Thousands of feet up in the air, an F-16 Falcon pilot gets a visual of an F-15 Eagle and the fight is on as the two high performance jet fighters engage in an air-to-air combat. This scene has played out repeatedly over the past two weeks as F-16 pilots from Kunsan Air Base, South Korea have taken on Kadena F-15 pilots in the skies over Japan. 

The training has allowed Air Force pilots from the 18th Wing here and the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan to exercise their capabilities, hone their skills and practice air-to-air tactics in a way that isn't possible during day-to-day training at home station. 

The 35th Fighter Squadron brought 12 F-16s and about 130 Airmen to Kadena for the training, which began in earnest last week with F-16 pilots serving as aggressors against the F-15s during the 18th Wing's Operational Readiness Inspection. The training continued this week with more DACT, or dissimilar air combat training.

"We get to see what it's like to fight a much smaller jet, and one with somewhat different performance than our F-15s. By working together, we also learn how to take advantage of each other's advantages. 

"We tried to fly set representative samples of what our adversaries would fly," said Maj. Stephen Pinchak, 35th Fighter Squadron assistant director of operations. "This allowed the F-15 pilots to validate their tactics and show that they work." 

[The F-16 participation] made our training more realistic against an adversary of a dissimilar airframe as opposed to fighting against ourselves, said Maj. Sean Sullivan, 44th Fighter Squadron assistant director of operations. 

"My wingman and I challenged two other Eagles in basic fighter maneuvers two miles apart, said Capt. Dave Anderson 35th FS flight commander. "They intercepted us and we started to fight. I went after one of them to get a gun kill, but subsequently was shot by the Eagle flight leader who had gotten away earlier from the fight." It was an exciting experience to merge visually with the Eagles, he added. 

This week F-15 pilots aggressed switched roles and played the aggressor against the F-16s to round out the training. In the end, Maj. Sullivan said that one of the high points of training with Kadena's F-15s is that both sides have gained a better understanding of the others' capabilities. 

For Major Pinchak, the opportunity to come to Kadena and train with the Air Force's largest combat wing was a memorable experience. "With the tankers and F-15's flying everywhere, you see the capabilities of the Air Force in one place and I think this is awe inspiring," said Major Pinchak.