With the F-22’s Future Uncertain, Hickam Airmen Reflect

Shade from the corrugated metal roofs that protects both maintainers and the F-22 fighter aircraft flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron and the Air Force’s 19th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 8, 2022. Staff

From the Air Force Magazine website

Just behind the F-22 maintenance shop at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, a tall chain-link fence blocks access to a lengthy roadway leading to 13 sunshades, each standing more than 30 feet high.

Their corrugated metal roofs protect both maintainers and the F-22 fighter aircraft flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron and the Air Force’s 19th Fighter Squadron.

For a dozen years, thousands of Hawaiian maintainers have supported, and hundreds of pilots have flown, the fifth-generation aircraft from Hickam’s strategic Pacific location. But in recent months, a tinge of sadness and uncertainty has radiated through the F-22 support team and pilots as Air Force leaders called for the retirement of 33 of the 186 F-22s in the fleet to make way for investments in next-generation fighters.

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