Photo By 1st Lt. Richard Longoria | The E-3A Component participated in Red Flag 15-1 from Oct. 2 to Oct. 17, 2014, at...... read more read more
Story by Maureen Geraets-Head
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - “For our mission crews this is the ultimate training! It’s not only very realistic but also well-executed and has a tremendous learning curve”, says Lt. Col. Stephan Becker.
As the Deployment Commander, Becker, was in charge of a team of roughly 70 E-3A Component personnel participating in Red Flag 15-1 (RF 15-1), held at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska, from Oct. 2-17, 2014.
JBER and Eielson Air Force Base are the home of Red Flag Alaska. The exercise is a joint/coalition tactical air combat employment exercise, which corresponds to the operational capability of participating units. In other words, exercises often involve several units whose military mission may differ significantly from those of other participating units. Red Flag Alaska planners take these factors into consideration when designing exercises so participants get the maximum training possible without being unfairly disadvantaged during simulated combat scenarios. Participating RF units arrive a week prior to the actual exercise to give crews the opportunity to fly orientation flights.
It’s 0520, the mission crew is getting ready for another exercise day. Capt. Rune Kohler, one of the Fighter Allocators, is enthusiastic. “This exercise provides the best training that’s out there. It gives us 1,000 percent more than what we can get out of flying standard training missions,” he tells.
Scenarios are shaped to meet each participant’s specific training objectives and there are two combat training missions each day. Kohler explains, “It starts the day prior to our mission, with a small team consisting of the tactical director, fighter allocator, weapons controllers and surveillance controller who prepare the next mission, anticipating on possible scenario developments. We determine how many assets we need to fulfill our task and carefully plan our tactics with the fighter units stationed in Fairbanks through VTC. Once the overall mission planning is completed, we conduct our internal E-3A mission planning and make sure that the each crew member fully understand his or her role in the large force employment.”
He continues, “The following day starts with a mass briefing for all players involved. The E-3A crew then rushes to the aircraft for an immediate take off in order to prepare all airborne mission systems. The fighter and transport aircraft follow at a later stage as they usually are operational immediately after take-off and do not need the same amount of airborne preparation time as the E-3. The complete E-3A mission takes about five hours, while the actual ‘fight’ only lasts one hour, which is extremely intense involving some 40 aircraft as well as ground based missile sites and personnel on the ground. What we learn here is tremendous. It is definitely value for money! What’s also unique about operating in this environment is that we are able to employ the NATO E-3A in conjunction with the US E-3B and exchange tactics and knowledge between the platforms. Something we rarely get to do in Europe.”
“Also in relation to airspace, this location is unique. It would be very difficult to perform an exercise like this in European airspace as it is much more congested,” adds Kohler. All Red Flag Alaska exercises take place in the Joint Pacific Range Complex over Alaska as well as a portion of Western Canadian airspace, and ranges for a total airspace of more than 107.000 square kilometers or twice the size of France.
Aircrews are not the only ones who benefit from the Red Flag Alaska experience. This three-week exercise calls for support from a complete team consisting of flight- and mission crews, admin, IT, intelligence and maintenance personnel.
Red Flag Alaska participants are organized into “Red” aggressor forces and “Blue” coalition forces. “White” forces represent the neutral controlling agency. The Red force includes air-to-air fighters, ground-control intercept and surface air defense forces to simulate threats posed by potentially hostile nations. The Blue force includes the full spectrum of U.S. and allied tactical and support units. Because the Red and Blue forces meet in a simulated hostile, non-cooperative training environment, the job of controlling the mock war and ensuring safety falls to the White neutral force.
The Deployment Commander concludes, “This exercise was a great add-on to our training that we normally perform from Geilenkirchen. The crews and the whole support team did a great job to make this RF a big success, and I am also proud that we did not miss one single task during the entire exercise. I would like to give a pat on the back to our maintenance guys as well who did an outstanding job in keeping the jets operational during the entire exercise enabling us to fulfill our task.”
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2014 10:37 |
| Story ID: | 146441 |
| Location: | ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 288 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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