Fighters of future train at Hill AFB

The F-16 is not the fighter jet of the future.

The jets are slowly retiring, and Hill Air Force Base officials will eventually have to find a new plane to call their own.

One such plane made an appearance at Hill this weekend. Four F/A-22 Raptors from a squadron assigned to Langley Air Force Base, Va., are in Utah for approximately two weeks to train at the Utah Test and Training Range. It is the first deployment for the next generation fighter aircraft.

"This trip will provide a unique training experience for the airmen working with and in support of this dominant aircraft," said Lt. Col. Jim Hecker, commander of the 27th Fighter Squadron.

The F/A-22 will likely never be the plane that Hill pilots will fly, said Vickie McCall, president of the Utah Defense Alliance. But that doesn't rule out the possibility that Hill personnel could do a hefty load of maintenance work on the new-age fighter.

Instead, Hill officials have their sights on the F/A-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a stealth, supersonic multi-role fighter that is slated to replace the A-10 and F-16.

"We want to be the fighter depot, regardless of whether it's A-10, F-16, F/A-22 and more importantly we're looking at the F/A-35 now," McCall said.

Hill will remain busy with F-16 maintenance for at least another 20 years, McCall said. The older Block 30 planes are scheduled for retirement in 2010, but the Block 40s have a longer life span, she said.

In the meantime, Hill officials are busy securing new workload on other airplanes.

Hill's Ogden Air Logistics Center will repair air frames for landing gear and secondary power systems for the F/A-22, spokeswoman Valerie Burke said. Base officials expect to secure additional workload on the jet in the future.

Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both R-Utah, secured $30 million for Hill, which will be uses to expand the base's first-class Software Engineering Division and to address concerns about aircraft-battle- damage-repair training and storage as the F/A-22 comes online. Versions of the military appropriations bill passed in both the House and the Senate. Both House and Senate conferees will now meet to reconcile differences in the bill.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com