145th Public Affairs and 99th Public Affairs
3/24/2015 - NEW LONDON, N.C. -- "Train like we fight" and "do more with less" are mottos echoing the walls of countless conference rooms across the Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force daily -- and for good reason. U.S. military missions continue to expand while concurrently trying to balance shrinking budgets and decreasing personnel.
"Whatever you can do to come up with solutions that really do save us money and provide additional capability across the Air Force, we're all for it," said Gen. John Hyten, then vice commander of Air Force Space Command, during an April 2014 Air Force Association Air and Space Conference speech.
The recent partnership between the North Carolina Air National Guard's 263rd Combat Communications Squadron and Air Combat Command's 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, and their Reserve counterpart, the 26th SAS, represent this vision in action. This serves as a prudent example of using innovation to tie limited resources together through a total force integration relationship and build mission capability and capacity for the joint force.
The 263rd CBCS, located at North Carolina Air National Guard base, 145th Combat Operations Group, New London, provides tactical secure and unsecure voice and data communications systems in support of deployed warfighters and in support of civil authorities for state disaster response. Reliable communication is the life-blood of any crisis, natural disaster or conflict, and the unit has actively and diligently sought advanced training opportunities with the 527th SAS to ensure mission success.
As a geographically separated squadron located at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, of the Nellis AFB-based 57th Adversary Tactics Group, the 527th SAS fully embodies the aggressor concept. That concept, formed after disappointing air-to-air kills during Vietnam, provides training audiences enemy-like capabilities and tactics to realistically replicate adversary threats. The Space Aggressors enable training audiences to develop new tactics, techniques and procedures to counter threats and improve U.S. joint warfighting communication capabilities, specifically by providing satellite communication electronic attack replication.
Using boxing as an example, the 263rd CBCS is the boxer preparing for a fight, while the aggressors represent the sparring partner.
"We hit them in practice, to make sure they can take a punch, standup and hit back in combat," said Major Christopher Fernengel, 527 SAS operations officer.
During training exercises, the 263rd CBCS and 527th SAS typically act as each other's adversaries. Now, in addition to being rivals in training, these innovative units are partnering to build a stronger future force while simultaneously executing fiscal dexterity.
Between October 2014 and January 2015, the space aggressors deployed to North Carolina to support nearly 37,000 Sailors, Marines and Airmen during three U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Navy exercises. Rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars in shipping costs to transport electronic attack training equipment, the 527th repurposed standard combat communications equipment to replicate electronic attack to support the training exercises. Meanwhile, 263rd Airmen provided technical expertise and manpower in support of the space aggressor mission.
"The relationship between our unit and the 527th advances total force integration, makes great fiscal sense and has significantly increased our ability to provide reliable communications to the warfighter in a contested environment," said Lt. Col. Anthony Sullins, 263rd CBCS commander.
The commonality of equipment between the 527th and 263rd provides many advantages that enhance the missions of both units. The space aggressors save on transportation costs and personnel hours by leveraging combat communications equipment and personnel. The Air Force guardsmen of the 263rd can leverage training opportunities to remain proficient on their mission tasks prior to real world deployments. The advanced training provided by the 527th allows CBCS operators to develop TTP and mitigation strategies through electro-magnetic Interference "dogfight" exercises.
The combined efforts of both squadrons resulted in nearly $62,000 in total savings of travel and personnel associated costs. Such a partnership answers the charge from the ACC commander, for our Airmen to think creatively and develop innovative solutions to near term shortfalls.
In fiscal 2015, the support relationship between the 263rd CBCS, 527th SAS and 26th SAS units is expected to be executed four times, providing the DOD an estimated savings of $250,000. "This total force effort will culminate by arming over 50,000 joint personnel with training and TTP development to fight in and through a contested environment during combat," said Fernengel.
The most significant benefit of this partnership, which can't be measured in cost savings, is how the CBCS becomes better prepared to fight in a contested, degraded and operationally-limited environment while the aggressors learn more about critical communications and ensure vulnerabilities are identified, exploited and mitigation tactics are developed.
"Over the last year, we, along with our combat communications group, have worked with the 527th to integrate more combat comm units into this training and codify our lessons into community wide TTPs that are regularly exercised and trained," said Sullins. "Until technical solutions to mitigate jamming are integrated into our equipment, we will use these TTPs to ensure Combat Communicators mitigate this threat at the tactical edge of our networks."
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