Air Force, Air Guard pilots merge in F/A-22 Wing.

Air National Guard pilots are training to fly the F/A-22 Raptor as part of an experimental combat unit that combines active duty and Guard fighter members.

Pilots and ground crews from the Guard's 192nd Fighter Wing, based in Richmond, Va., will fly and maintain Raptors of the active duty 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Yet, personnel from the 192nd will remain members of the Guard.

The Air Force touts this arrangement as evidence of the ongoing integration between active-duty and Guard units. The Air Force fighter wing taps into a pool of highly experienced Air Guard pilots and maintainers. In return, the 192nd will trade its 1980s-era F-16s for the most advanced warplane in the U.S. arsenal.

But officials caution that this type of integration is easier said than done. The members of the unit will fly the same airplane, but report to two different masters. "We're breaking new ground here between Title 10 and Title 32," said Col. Jay Denney, the 1st Fighter Wing's vice-commander.

Title 10 forces are federal units. Yet the Guard is Title 32, which means that units report to their state governors, unless federalized. The 192nd will move from Richmond to the 1st Fighter Wing's base at Langley, but it will remain a Guard unit.

The thorniest question is chain of command, Denney said. An active duty officer, for example, would command Guardsmen flying an active-duty aircraft. An active-duty maintenance supervisor would work with a Guard crew chief.

"Administratively, he [the Guardsman] is disciplined, trained and paid by the Guard, as the chain of command goes through the Guard chain. But when you're out on the line, then how is he under command? Well, if he is brought on to active duty when the Guard is called up, then he becomes a Title 10 asset. But right now, I can't give him a legal order, because he's a state man."

Scheduling also presents problems. The 1st Wing, which owns the aircraft, is a full-time operation. But the 192nd comprises only about 30 percent full-time personnel, with the remaining 70 percent part-timers who perform weekend and summer training. "You've got air traffic control, you have guys driving fuel trucks, you have hospitals and all the other resources that may mean we need to adjust schedules," Denney said. "Pilots and maintenance should be a fairly easy mix because the mission is the same. It's the support group functions that we have to integrate."

Funding also is a concern. The 192nd will be an Air Guard formation on an Air Force base. "So far as facilities and military construction money go, is that going to be paid for by the Guard Bureau?" Denney asked.

He acknowledges that bringing in the 192nd will cost the Air Force more money for services like commissary and hospital care. But if the price is high, the prize is precious. The 1st Fighter Wing will be gaining the services of Air Guard pilots like Lt. Col. Phillip Guy, who brings 17 years of flying F-16s and 2,700 hours of flight time. Guy is the first Guard pilot to receive F/A-22 training.

"I will be flying side by side with an active duty pilot," said Guy, who began three months of training in May. "A casual observer won't be able to tell the difference."

Officials from both sides said they are confident that they can work out the bugs.

A concept of operations already exists, and the finer points will be worked out through a memorandum of understanding. In any event, the 1st Fighter Wing's commander will be in charge of the combined 1st/192nd operation. "There has to be one commander," Denney said.

He anticipates that the 1st Wing's 5,000 personnel will be joined by a thousand Guardsmen as the 192nd gradually moves from Richmond to Langley through 2010.

The 30 Air Force pilots will be joined by 12 Guard pilots, four for each of the wing's three squadrons. The Guard pilots will be funneled gradually through the training pipeline, even as the 1st Fighter Wing itself gears up. It currently has only three active-duty, Raptor-qualified pilots. The wing eventually will grow to 100 pilots.

While such integration is new to the fighter community, it has been done by airtransport units. "At Charleston, S.C., and other bases, they do this all the time," Denney said. "They just share the hardware. The Guard crew will come in, go fly their mission. They have Guard maintenance. When they come back, they hand over the aircraft. But that's the type of mission where they can go out for a week or three days. This is new ground for us with the fighter mission."

The F/A-22 is designed for higher sortie rates than older aircraft. This will create a need for more pilots and ground crews. "By having an integrated force, we can take advantage of a much more technologically capable aircraft," Denney said. "The fact is that we can fly them more often, and use the Guard unit where they might even extend their drill weekends."