Oklahoma Air Reserve Component Team Effort Supports RIMPAC 2010

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Richard Curry
  • 507th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma --  An Oklahoma air reserve component total team effort went into supporting RIMPAC 2010, the world's largest maritime exercise, which was held last month.

Airmen from the 507th Air Refueling Wing, 137th Air Refueling Wing and the 513th Air Control Group collectively winged their way overseas to participate in this year's event.

Hosted biennially by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific), is a series of multinational maritime exercises which take place in the Hawaiian operating area. Fourteen nations, 32 ships, five submarines, over 170 aircraft and 20,000 personnel participated in the exercise in the Hawaiian operating area in, and around, the islands of Hawaii. In addition to U.S. military forces, military units from Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Peru, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States participated. The countries of Brazil, India and New Zealand sent observers.

Four 507th Air Refueling Wing KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft and more than 100 wing reservists provided support throughout July. Joining them mid-month were an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft along with a total of 44 Air Force Reservists from the 513th Air Control Group.

Another aircrew from the 185th Air Refueling Squadron, a subunit of the 137th, flew in on a swap-out aircraft to participate.

"While this was primarily a 507th effort, we were given one mission channel to support," said Maj. Thomas Haley, 185th Air Refueling Squadron flight scheduler.

RIMPAC 2010 was the fifth time for 507th ARW participation and a first-time experience for the 137th and 513th members.

"The RIMPAC experience was great," Haley said, adding that the complexity of operations was demanding and realistic of actual combat operations.

"It is a very good experience for new co-pilots who have not been to any combat operations before," said Haley. "It is a good training opportunity for new co-pilots who have not been to any desert operations before. We found ourselves flying over water for multiple Navy aircraft while refueling with a drogue basket. Flying with Navy fighters is something we don't normally do and it is good to see other types of aircraft in real world missions."

The air refueling mission objective was to establish operations and conduct mid-air refueling as tasked by the Combined Air and Space Operations Center.

"We received our daily air tasking orders from the Combined Forces Air Component Commander under Pacific Fleet. During this exercise our aircraft were heavily engaged, flying 3-4 missions daily refueling a variety of aircraft," said Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Malloy, the 465th Air Refueling Squadron director of operations. Malloy said most of the refueling missions ranged from 2-4 hours in duration.

For the AWACS crews, 970th Airborne Air Control Squadron members flew two 5-1/2-hour-long sorties out of Hickam Air Force Base, supporting two vulnerability windows for the exercise.

"We participated in two War At Sea Exercises (WASEX), providing control to F-18 and F-15 assets defending a coalition fleet," said Lt. Col. Wayne Polinski, a 513th flight scheduler.

Polinski said the AWACS crew coordinated ID and cap manning with a Japanese cruiser acting as the Sector Area Defense Commander for the fleet.

"This was the first time our squadron has linked with Japanese, Australian, Singapore and Korean naval assets," Polinski said.

And while a maintenance issue kept the AWACS team from accomplishing all of their tasks, Polinski said, "the squadron's participation in RIMPAC benefited PACAF and ACC E-3 crews by sharing Navy and coalition integration lessons learned."

By the end of the exercise, 507th members racked up an impressive 224.9 hours flown during 56 sorties that refueled 314 receivers. The wing's KC-135R aircraft offloaded an impressive 2,248,800 pounds of fuel.