An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, AR, touches down on a dirt runway at Fort Chaffee, Ark. during Operation Phantom Flight on April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service opera...
An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., flies over a runway at Fort Chaffee, AR during Operation Phantom Flight on April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service operation where...
An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, AR, touches down on a dirt runway at Fort Chaffee, Ark. during Operation Phantom Flight on April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service opera...
Spc. Adler Polk, a signal support system specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Regiment, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares the radio system used to allow all Soldiers and Airmen participating in Operation P...
An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, AR, touches down on a dirt runway at Fort Chaffee, Ark. during Operation Phantom Flight on April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service opera...
Spc. Adler Polk, a signal support system specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Regiment, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares the radio system used to allow all Soldiers and Airmen participating in Operation P...
Spc. Adler Polk, a signal support system specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Regiment, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares the radio system used to allow all Soldiers and Airmen participating in Operation P...
Lt. Col. Andrew Hercik, Commander of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., walks off an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Fort Chaffee, AR after flying nearly 250 miles by way of an Air Force C-...
Staff Sgt. Brandon Laureano, a launcher chief assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., ground guides an M142 HIMARS after being flown in by an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules during Oper...
Lt. Col. Andrew Hercik, left, Commander of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., walks beside Staff Sgt. Brandon Laureano, right, a launcher chief assigned to 1-14th FAR, at Fort Chaffee, Ark. af...
Lt. Col. Andrew Hercik, left, Commander of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., walks through the cloud of dust produced from an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules taking off at Fort Chaffee, Ark.,...
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., mount their weapon system on an M142 HIMARS after having arrived to Fort Chaffee, Ark., by an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules for Operation Phant...
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares an M142 HIMARS after having arrived to Fort Chaffee, Ark., by an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules for Operation Phantom Flight on April 1...
An Air Force C-130J Super Hercules assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., touches down on a dirt runway at Fort Chaffee, AR during Operation Phantom Flight on April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service opera...
An Airmen assigned to 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, AR, listens to the communications between the pilots and air traffic control personnel while transporting an M142 HIMARS from Fort Chaffee, Ark. to Fort Sill, Okla. after having con...
An M142 HIMARS assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., makes its way to its firing position at Fort Chaffee, Ark. during Operation Phantom Flight, April 12, 2019. Operation Phantom Flig...
Staff Sgt. Brandon Laureano, a launcher chief assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., ground guides an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, after being flown in by an ...
Lt. Col. Andrew Hercik, left, Commander of 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., walks through the cloud of dust produced from an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules taking off at Fort Chaffee, Ark.,...
An M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., fires the first of six rockets during Operation Phantom Flight at Fort Chaffee, Ark. du...
Staff Sgt. Zacchaeus Butler, a launcher chief assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares the missile pods on an M142 HIMARS prior to conducting a firing mission during Operation P...
Spc. Daniel Brooks, a crewmember assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., checks the tire pressure of the M142 HIMARS prior to loading it into an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules at Fort ...
Staff Sgt. Zacchaeus Butler, a launcher chief assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., ground guides an M142 HIMARS as it prepares to load addition missile pod during Operation Phantom F...
Spc. Caleb Hingtgen, a Soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., looks out the window of an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules while in route to Fort Sill from Fort Chaffee, AR after...
Staff Sgt. Brandon Laureano, a launcher chief assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Okla., prepares the missile pods on an M142 HIMARS prior to conducting a firing mission during Operation P...
FORT SILL, Okla. -- Using four C-130J aircraft, Airmen from 19th Airlift Wing from Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and 317th Airlift Wing from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, transported High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) nearly 250 miles in order to execute a series of strategic and precise fire missions.
As part of the joint exercise, the Soldiers of the Steel Warrior Battalion, 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Regiment, 75th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, loaded multiple M142 HIMARS onto these separate U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules to conduct Operation Phantom Flight, an air/land raid, April 12, 2019.
Operation Phantom Flight is a joint service operation where both Soldier and Airmen worked alongside one another to successfully mobilize and transport Steel Warrior Battalions HIMARS from Henry Post Army Airfield, Oklahoma to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
"In the Army, we train as we fight and that's exactly what we did here," said Staff Sgt. Brandon Laureano, launcher chief assigned to 1-14th FAR. "Executing missions like Operation Phantom Flight helps us simulate as closely as we can what it will be like to perform an air/land raid in a deployed environment. Conducting operations like this, learning through repetition and perfecting our skills contributes greatly to the overall mission readiness here at 1-14 FAR. It provided Soldiers with a valuable experience they can use later on in their careers and hopefully they can spread that newly gained knowledge to their commands for future missions."
"The relationships developed between 1-14th FAR and the Airlift Wings will lead to further training opportunities to increase the effectiveness of all three organizations," said Steel Warrior Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Andrew Hercik. "This exercise was a great opportunity to cross-train alongside the Air Force on the nuances of loading and flying an unfamiliar piece of equipment for not only that flight crew but give them the ability to assist future crews."
Once the HIMARS made it to Fort Chaffee, Soldiers and crew members quickly unchained the launchers from the aircraft in preparation for a quick offloading and execution of fire mission.
"The HIMARS air/land raid provides our supported commander with the ability to strike critical enemy capabilities at decisive times and locations," said Lt. Col. Hercik. "The ability for the C-130J to deliver HIMARS launchers to unimproved landing zones significantly increases the overall range of the weapon system while reducing the risk of interdiction by attack aviation, direct or indirect fires."
The Steel Warrior battalion continues to train in supporting worldwide contingency as III Corps and Fort Hood only airmobile long-range precision fires capabilities.
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