by Master Sgt. Roger Parsons
116th Air Control Wing Public Affairs
9/25/2013 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Team
JSTARS spent the week participating in a worldwide training exercise
without a single E-8C Joint STARS aircraft leaving the ground.
During the weeklong exercise,known as Coalition Virtual Flag 13-4,
aviators from the 461st Air Control Wing and exercise planners from the
116th Air Control Wing, put their skills to the test in a large virtual
battlefield along with units from 23 different locations worldwide
including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Working from a simulator housed within the 116th Air Control Wing,
JSTARS aviators were linked with other exercise participants on a
network maintained and operated at the Distributed Missions Operations
Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
"Coalition Virtual Flag provided the opportunity for us to participate
in simulated operational areas and scenarios we aren't normally involved
in," said Capt. Rolando, an exercise planner with the 116th Operations
Support Squadron, Georgia Air National Guard.
"We were able to practice a wider variety of command and control and
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance skill sets while
communicating with more assets than we normally experience with other
exercises or during our real-world missions," the captain said.
This exercise provided a unique opportunity for JSTARS to operate over a
land-based battle space; which has been their mission since the
inception of the platform, but to also integrate more in a maritime
environment working directly with a strike group from the U.S. Navy's
Third Fleet.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Mike Reed, U.S. Third Fleet liaison officer, spent the
week at the base to learn more about how the Navy can benefit from the
capabilities of the Joint STARS platform.
"The platform has a lot of capabilities which are completely different
than what the Navy uses," Reed said. "I've seen at least four scenarios
where JSTARS can easily flow in the maritime environment. Virtual Flag
gave us the opportunity to test new tactics, techniques and procedures,
learn how to fully integrate JSTARS over water and help us solidify that
relationship."
One scenario involved melding the broad area surveillance capability of
the JSTARS platform with current Navy radar capabilities. The E-8C
operators provided threat and target data during an exercise providing
maritime infrastructure protection for four simulated oil platforms.
Many JSTARS operators were fresh out of training or had no previous experience in an exercise of this size and scope.
"For people new to the platform like me, Virtual Flag gave us an
opportunity to learn how to do our jobs better and how to integrate
better in a coalition environment," said Capt. Titus, 16th Airborne
Command and Control Squadron senior director. "It's been a challenge,
especially in robust large force scenarios."
A unique aspect of Virtual Flag that enhanced the training opportunity
was the execution, planning and debrief process the crewmembers
followed.
After each mission, a mass network conference was conducted giving every
platform a look at the overall picture followed by local debriefs.
"We would execute our missions, immediately debrief what we did right
and wrong, then go straight to mission planning for the next day," said
Lt. Toby, 16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron air weapons
officer. "The lessons learned and mistakes we made one day, we were able
to work on the next day and continually improve as individuals and as a
team."
With budget constraints allowing for fewer live opportunities for training,
Coalition Virtual Flag provided a realistic and affordable means for JSTARS operators to prepare for real-world scenarios.
"In live exercises there are many barriers from cost, environment,
maintenance and safety issues that affect our planned scenarios," Toby
said. With this exercise all those barriers were eliminated and we were
able to focus more on training in a safer more cost effective
environment."
(Full names of JSTARS aviators withheld for security purposes)
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment