Folks in Soldotna who were awake around 2:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, probably noticed, or more likely heard, an unusual flight of 10-12 aircraft flying in a single file formation. According to the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) 673d Air Base Wing Public Affairs office, the aircraft were a group of 11 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carrying Army 25th Infantry Division personnel and cargo to Hawaii for a multi-agency, multi-national series of training exercises.
Once the initial video posts of the planes flying in the darkened sky hit social media, comments, questions, and speculations began pouring in. One curious observation of the aircraft was that they did not appear on any internet-based, commercial flight tracking software, like FlightAware. This was because those types of software do not show certain military aircraft.
Ultimately, though, the explanation for the uncommon activity was not a cause for alarm. “There’s an exercise going on that’s involving several branches of the Air Force and other nations. It’s JPNC [Joint Tactical Networking Center] and Hawaii,” said Erin Eaton with Air Force 673d Air Base Wing Public Affairs. “There’s Air Force and Army involved, and so it’s different branches of service within the US, plus other nations.”
The 11 C-17s departed JBER with personnel and cargo from the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division on Monday morning, en route to Hawaii to conduct a Joint Forcible Entry Operation during a rotation at the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, the office of the 673rd said in an email.
Of operations like the ones to be conducted in Hawaii, the email stated, “Realistic training exercises with our allies and partners, like JPMRC, strengthen defense relationships, foster multinational interoperability, generate readiness, and combat-credible fighting formations.”
According to the email, the aircraft were visible in and south of the Anchorage area as they were en route to Hawaii.
An article from U.S. Army Public Affairs with further information about the joint operations can be found here.
This story has been amended to accurately reflect that military aircraft can appear on internet flight tracking software.