F-35s and F-16s fought non-stop in defensive counter-air exercise for more than 8 hours

A recent large-scale integrated combat capability exercise at Hill Air Force Base saw F-35s and F-16s protecting the air base non-stop for more than 8 hours.

An F-35A takes off during a combat exercise at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, May 1, 2019. The active duty 388th Fighter Wing and Reserve 419th Fighter Wing, along with F-16 units from Holloman AFB, New Mexico, and Kunsan Air Base, Korea, conducted an integrated combat exercise where maintainers were tasked to continually provide ready aircraft and pilots took off in waves to simulate a large force engagement with enemy aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo by R. Nial Bradshaw)

The defensive counter-air exercise was designed to simulate a combat operations tempo to test the capabilities of maintainers to provide aircraft and pilots to protect the airfield from a large enemy force, the press release says.

Each day saw four-ship sorties launched every 30-45 minutes. If an enemy aircraft was to penetrate the defenses to launch an attack, the blue force is penalized by losing time to generate aircraft as maintainers took cover.

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