HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE — A stealthy and still-controversial F-22 Raptor fighter was parked yesterday nose to nose with an aging Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15C Eagle.

In just over a year, the two fighters should be flying side by side in the skies over Hawai'i. Starting in June 2010, the Hawai'i Air Guard's 19 F-15s, flown here since 1987, will begin being replaced by 20 of the Raptors, the Air Force's most advanced weapon system.

A dozen of the Raptors are returning to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia from a three-month deployment to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan.

Six were on a stopover in Hawai'i yesterday with six more on the way, and Hawai'i Air Guard pilots and maintainers got to see one — tail No. 058 — which will be moved to Hickam in 2011 or 2012.

"If you look at some of our (F-15s), we've tried to keep a lot of pride in them, keeping the aircraft flying as much as possible," said 29-year-old crew chief Staff Sgt. Robert Rabacal. "For the F-22, we'll do the same — we'll keep that bird flying. There's a lot of pride invested when the Hawai'i Air National Guard has those jets."

The Hawai'i Air Guard will be the only Guard unit to "own" the aircraft, with a minority of pilots and mechanics coming from active-duty units.

"It just means we've got to put out A-game on and work even harder," said Rabacal, a 1997 St. Louis School grad. "Of course, having the F-22, the latest and greatest, we're going to be looked at to see if we can compete."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently recommended halting production of the costly F-22 fighter jet at 187 planes — four more than in the current program, but 56 fewer than the Air Force wanted.

The Hawai'i allotment was figured into the 187 planes to be built. Each Raptor costs $143 million, and more than twice that, factoring in research and development, but the aircraft has yet to see combat.

Two Raptors that will be used for maintenance training are expected to be based in Hawai'i in June 2010, with two more arriving that fall. The aircraft are capable of supersonic speeds without the use of afterburners.

Brig. Gen. Peter Pawling, the commander of the 154th Wing of the Hawai'i Air National Guard, said the F-22 has a tremendous ability to deter enemies.

"It's such a good air-to-air fighter that you don't want to go against this airplane," said Pawling, who will be promoted to two-star general and take a job at U.S. Pacific Command in coming months.

In addition to the Okinawa deployment, a squadron of F-22s has deployed to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. Pawling said the Hawai'i F-22s will be similarly deployed in the Pacific.

"I've been told we'll look at the Islands in our rear-view mirror in that airplane, so it will be on the road for America," Pawling said.