CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM 1st Lt. Kai Kahele and Maj. C.J. Pindat Kahele, posed in front of one of the wings of the C-17 Globemaster III, which was introduced at Hickam Air Force Base yesterday. They are the only husband-and-wife pilot team in the Hawaii Air National Guard, and both look forward to flying the new cargo plane.

Guard’s cargo jet
project lifts off

A ceremony kicks off construction on
a complex to house a new C-17 squadron

Maj. C.J. Pindat Kahele and 1st Lt. Kai Kahele are the only husband-and-wife pilot team in the Hawaii Air National Guard.

By early 2006 they hope to be in the cockpit of a brand-new Globemaster jet transport as the only C-17 husband-and-wife pilot team for the Hawaii Air Guard.

C-17 Globemaster III Function: Cargo and troop transport Length: 174 feet Wingspan: 170 feet Speed: 450 knots Power: Four turbofan engines Crew: Three (two pilots and loadmaster) Load: 102 soldiers or two 19-ton Stryker combat vehicles or 170,900 pounds of cargo Inventory: Active duty, 12; Air National Guard, 1 Milestones >> Yesterday: Ground-breaking of a $30 million Hickam Air Force Base C-17 Globemaster jet transport operations, training and maintenance center. >> Fall 2004: Air Force releases environment assessment on locations of proposed practice airfields on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island. One will be selected to practice combat landings and takeoffs. >> October 2004: The first class of Hawaii Air National Guard C-130 cargo pilots go to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma for four months of C-17 transport jet transitional training. >> August 2005: Hickam's three-building complex housing the active-duty 535th Tactical Airlift Squadron and the Hawaii Air National Guard's 204th Airlift Squadron becomes operational. >> January 2006: First of eight C-17 Globemaster jet cargo transports arrives at Hickam. The remaining will be sent to Hickam at a rate of one each month. Source: U.S. Air Force

Yesterday, they attended the groundbreaking ceremony of a $30 million complex that will be the home of the operations, training and maintenance sections of the Air Force's 535th Tactical Airlift Squadron and the Hawaii Air Guard's 204th Airlift Squadron.

Besides being members of the first C-17 unit stationed outside the mainland, the Kaheles also will hold the distinction of being members of the first active-duty Air Force and Air National Guard operation.

"It's really exciting to be part of this," said Kai Kahele, a 1992 Hilo High School graduate who played on the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team from 1994 to 1997.

"It's pretty awesome, growing up in Hawaii and seeing planes flying over you and then to be part of this historic undertaking by the Air Force of expanding its strategic airlift in the Pacific."

The three buildings adjacent to Hickam Air Force Base's passenger terminal are the first phase of a $190 million military construction project, said Col. Ray Torres, commander of the 15th Airlift Wing. They will support the operations of eight C-17 Globemaster jet transports. The first of eight C-17 Globemasters will arrive at Hickam in January 2006.

The Globemasters are the transportation element of the Pentagon's new mobile fighting force. The combat element will be the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, which by 2007 will have 3,600 soldiers using 310 eight-wheeled Stryker combat vehicles.

A C-17 jet transport can carry at least two fully equipped Strykers as far as 4,500 miles, Torres said. "But that range can be easily extended since a C-17 can be refueled midair by KC-135 jet tankers flown by the Hawaii Air Guard," Torres added.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, a key congressional supporter of the C-17 and Stryker projects, said the groundbreaking "demonstrates to our nation and the world that our active force -- the Air Force and the Guard -- can work together. This is proof positive here."

He added the new C-17 Air Force and Hawaii Air National Guard unit is a recognition by military and civilian policy-makers that "the area of concern and the area of importance" is the Pacific area.

"This aircraft is a demonstration of that," Inouye added. "The Stryker brigade is a demonstration of that."

The $30 million contract was awarded to Kiewit Pacific Construction.

After the ceremony, Torres told reporters that the Air Force is focusing on building a badly needed 3,500- to 5,000-foot training airfield near the Kona Airport on the Big Island and would share the cost of construction and usage with the state.

At one time the Air Force considered Kalaeloa, but Torres indicated that there were concerns of density, jet noise and the frequency of takeoffs and landings raised by state and federal officials during the current environmental assessment process.