Carrier Air Wing 5, Air Force specialists Conduct CSAR Training with RAAF

By Mass Communication Specialist Eric S. Brann, USS George Washington Public Affairs

TIMOR SEA (NNS) -- Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and U.S. Air Force survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialists participated in a combat search and rescue (CSAR) training exercise at Mount Bundey range training complex as part of exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 (TS15), July 15.

CSAR training is designed to practice tactics, techniques and procedures necessary to recover isolated personnel.

"When someone is in trouble and we have to provide resources like CSAR to get personnel back, it's important for us to interact with our international partners in order to help us do that," said Lt. David Barnhill, CVW 5's helicopter coordinator. "It's important for us to do this while we are in training in a controlled environment so when we have to perform in an uncontrolled environment we will demonstrate the tactics, techniques and procedures effectively."

RAAF provided the command and control aspect and air-to-air defense. CVW 5 provided helicopters and jets to contact and locate personnel and CVW 5 jets provided protection for helicopters that went in and retrieved isolated personnel.

"This was a successful training," said Barnhill. "We recovered personnel in a timely manner. In a real situation you want to get them back as soon as possible. The training was valuable for everyone involved and a lot of lessons were learned."

TS15 is a biennial land, sea and air military training exercise between U.S. and Australian forces that features more than 33,000 personnel, 21 ships, 200 aircraft and three submarines, which increases U.S.-Australian interoperability to respond to a wide variety of contingencies and maintain security, peace, and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.