Photo By Ashley Roy | An A10 flies over the Air to Ground Gunnery Range at Atterbury-Muscatatuck near...... read more read more
EDINBURGH, Ind. - The Atterbury-Muscatatuck Joint Simulation Training and Exercise Center near Edinburgh, Ind., provided simulation and virtual support for Emerald Warrior 13 through the use of its Joint Training Enterprise Network 2.0 the week of April 22.
An annual exercise executed by Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Fla., Emerald Warrior is designed to provide irregular warfare training at the tactical level by emphasizing multiple areas of operations through virtual and live components.
In the exercise, multiple units come together with their own training objectives into a common virtual world, said Capt. Charles Precht, chief of the Simulations Division at Atterbury.
The JTEN at Atterbury helps create this virtual world by connecting multiple simulations systems, in this case Virtual Battle Space II and Hurlburt Field’s AC-130 gunship simulator, to operate for a single mission objective or exercise.
Joint tactical air controllers with the 113th Air Support Operations Squadron out of Terre Haute, Ind., utilized the network for integrated simulations with Emerald Warrior 13, providing a realistic training opportunity for AC-130 call for fire training and multiple simulation platforms.
Atterbury-Muscatatuck’s participation in this exercise marked the first time it’s been involved, as well as the first exercise conducted over the JSTEC’s JTEN 2.0 network.
“It’s a significant capability and it allows us to really connect into other simulation exercises and also allows us to distribute our simulation exercises here, to other locations,” said Precht.
Operable since March, the JTEN is new to Atterbury and enables the installation to participate in larger exercises. Without it, the JSTEC could not integrate multiple simulators or process the amount of data needed for such operations, said Steven Carter, JTEN manager at Atterbury.
Carter describes the system as a large pipe, with huge chunks of data passing through it simultaneously.
“It’s just a conduit for the rest of the simulation world,” said Carter.
Atterbury is the only National Guard post to have JTEN 2.0, which is the newest version, allowing the system to operate both classified and unclassified missions. There are currently 48 sites worldwide including locations in Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea and Germany that can operate on the JTEN network, providing multinational capabilities as well.
Despite being the first time Atterbury has utilized its JTEN capabilities, so far the system has received only praise.
Master Sgt. Scott McPhee, Air Support Operations Squadron superintendent with the 113th ASOS, said the training provides a good opportunity for younger joint tactical air controllers to get at the controls of assets they hadn’t quite been able to work with yet, and serves as a refresher for more experienced JTACs.
“We’re getting to work with actual crews, so we’re not trying to simulate it by putting another individual in a room who doesn’t necessarily have the capabilities or the experience on doing it. We’re actually talking to the gun ship crews, or the assets that are actually flying into the scenario,” said McPhee.
Being stationed in Terre Haute, Ind., the simulations capabilities at Atterbury can be a cost saver for the 113th ASOS as well. With the JTEN the unit can train virtually in the case of bad weather, saving them from a wasted trip, said McPhee.
With such positive feedback, the JSTEC hopes utilization of the JTEN grows from the success of Emerald Warrior.
“What JTEN allows us to do is go out and look at these exercises and find units in our local region that have training objectives, and then connect them to these exercises in ways that meet regional training objectives, and also allow an enhancement of the exercise itself,” said Precht.
Currently four separate simulators at Atterbury are integrated with the JTEN, allowing them to run simultaneously, thus expanding training capabilities. To Carter’s knowledge, Atterbury is the only U.S. installation to accomplish this.
“It (JTEN) has really increased our capability with simulations, and our ability to train individuals here at Atterbury-Muscatatuck,” concluded Precht.
With multiple simulation platforms available at the post including a Reconfigurable Vehicle Tactical Trainer, Dismounted Soldier Training System, Virtual Battle Space II System and newly installed Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer, the possibilities of JTEN integration are endless.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2013 16:08 |
| Story ID: | 106240 |
| Location: | EDINBURGH, INDIANA, US |
| Hometown: | TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 566 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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