WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Several F-16 Fighting Falcons deployed to Eareckson Air Station during NORAD’s Operation Noble Defender.
  • The mission marked the first fighter deployment there in years under an air defense alert role.
  • American and Canadian aircraft operated across Alaska and Alberta before the Oct. 25 Operation Noble Eagle exercise.
  • NORAD said the deployment validated Eareckson as a viable location for future fighter operations from an austere airfield.

URL: https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-eareckson-shemya-air-defense/
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The Air Force deployed several F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets to a remote corner of the western Aleutian Islands this month for a broader North American Aerospace Defense Command exercise. The mission marked the first time in years that fighters operated from Eareckson Air Station in an air defense alert role.

Eareckson sits on Shemya Island, a tiny outpost in the Bering Sea at the western end of the Aleutian chain. Its renewed use comes as the United States seeks to improve its ability to move forces quickly into remote or austere locations across the Arctic.

NORAD announced Friday, Oct. 30, that the F-16s deployed to Shemya as part of Operation Noble Defender. The operation began in the middle of October, concluded Oct. 26, and placed American and Canadian fighters and refueling aircraft around Alaska and Alberta, Canada.

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The mission culminated Oct. 25 with a large air exercise known as Operation Noble Eagle. Participating aircraft included two F-16s, F-35 Lightning IIs assigned to Eielson Air Force Base, an E-3 Sentry from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Canadian fighters, and multiple refueling tankers.

The distances involved were substantial, even by Alaska standards. NORAD noted that Eareckson Air Station is approximately 1,600 miles from Eielson Air Force Base, placing a premium on coordination, logistics, and aircraft support.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert D. Davis, commander of the Alaskan NORAD Region, highlighted the requirement to “bring combat power together across vast distances.” The deployment tested whether fighters could maintain an alert posture from an isolated airfield and respond rapidly.

“Operating from Eareckson Air Station proved we can deploy to an austere location, maintain alert, launch on short notice, and seamlessly integrate U.S. and Canadian forces to defend the northern approaches,” Davis said in the NORAD announcement.

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Shemya has a large runway and an important early warning tracking station. The island is also closer to Russian territory than it is to the Alaskan mainland, making its location particularly notable for operations focused on the northern approaches.

During the Cold War, Shemya hosted numerous fighter jets conducting air defense missions intended to deter the Soviets. That regular fighter presence ended at Eareckson Air Station in the early 1990s, although military aircraft have returned to the installation several times in subsequent years.

Special operations forces have also repeatedly trained on the island in recent years, according to TWZ. Those exercises focused on defending the Cobra Dane radar system, one of the important facilities located on Shemya.

NORAD regularly scrambles fighters to intercept aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. The zone is in international airspace, but NORAD requires aircraft operating there to identify themselves, and several Russian jets entered the Alaskan ADIZ last year.

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The latest deployment offered another test of Eareckson’s usefulness for fighter operations far from Alaska’s larger installations. NORAD said the mission further validated the remote base “as a viable location for future fighter operations from an austere airfield.”

Military officials have also examined other locations in the Aleutians as possible permanent or temporary defensive sites in the high north. Adak Island, located east of Shemya, contains an abandoned Navy base that some military leaders have recently pushed to reopen.

Two years ago, the Army and Air Force used Shemya as a staging ground to demonstrate how rapidly troops and equipment could reach the island. Military aircraft transported paratroopers, radars, and at least one M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System to establish positions around Shemya.

The recent F-16 deployment placed air defense fighters back at Eareckson in an alert role while testing coordination between American and Canadian forces. Earlier this month, Davis told High North News that “homeland defense in the Arctic cannot be seasonal or episodic.”

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