JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – The Hawaii Air National Guard hosted about 1,000 personnel and more than 40 aircraft from across the U.S. and Australia as part of this year’s Sentry Aloha exercise, held Jan. 14-28 on Oahu.
Sentry Aloha is a recurring National Guard Bureau exercise hosted by the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Wing. It provides tailored, cost-effective and realistic combat training for the Air National Guard, the U.S. Air Force and other Department of War services, ensuring warfighters possess the skills necessary for both homeland defense and overseas combat.
This iteration of Sentry Aloha brings together more than 40 aircraft to practice core aerial combat capabilities and to strengthen total-force integration among active-duty, Guard and international partner units.
The following units and aircraft participated in Sentry Aloha:
-154th Wing (Hawaii Air National Guard): F-22 Raptor and KC-135 Stratotanker
-115th Fighter Wing (Wisconsin Air National Guard): F-35A Lightning II
-128th Air Refueling Wing (Wisconsin Air National Guard): KC-135 Stratotanker
-159th Fighter Wing (Louisiana Air National Guard): F-15C Eagle
-155th Air Refueling Wing (Nebraska Air National Guard): KC-135 Stratotanker
-153rd Airlift Wing (Wyoming Air National Guard): C-130H Hercules
-3rd Wing (Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska): E-3 Sentry
-552nd Air Control Wing (Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.): E-3 Sentry
-Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (Hawaii): MK-58 Hawker Hunter
-Royal Australian Air Force: Support personnel
These visiting units integrated with the 199th and 19th Fighter Squadrons’ Hickam-based “Hawaiian Raptors” for high-intensity simulated combat.
For many visiting Airmen, the unique geography of the Hawaiian Islands provided challenges that can't be replicated in the continental U.S.
“Operating in a tropical climate, vice, where we operate in Wisconsin, when the high tomorrow is going to be negative eight, it's a very different feeling for how we go to fight a lot of other factors that we don't normally deal with, such as the constant potential for rain showers just to pop up,” said Capt. Nathan Moll, 115th Fighter Wing F-35 pilot. “Fighting and executing our tactics over water, it's not something you can do everywhere, so it's certainly a valuable training exercise for us. We are 100 percent practicing how we play.”
During the exercise, units used Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay as a simulated ‘spoke’ location. This forced the fifth-generation aircraft to operate away from their primary infrastructure at Hickam. This environment tested their ability to maintain high-tempo operations and advanced data-sharing in a decentralized setting, ensuring these stealth platforms remain lethal even when traditional hubs are targeted.
The exercise required significant logistical coordination, with the Sentry Aloha team orchestrating the movement of more than 1,000 personnel and 124 short tons of cargo within a three-day period.
“Coming over the Pacific, flying long distances, bringing all the cargo, the logistics and how everything flows is a big learning curve for them,” said Senior Master Sgt. Brian Kealoha, Sentry Aloha maintenance planner. “Everything has to fly. Understanding how all those pieces work – transitioning aircraft, ensuring tanker support and refueling – is a massive movement for a fighter unit traveling long distances.”
This level of immersion ensures that members are not just trained but thoroughly prepared to respond to any conflict when called upon, particularly when integrating with partnered units as a unified team.