RIMPAC ‘18 exercise highlights versatility of SHORAD

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Claudio Tejada | 180724-A-UK347-005 PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY BARKING SANDS, Hawaii (July 24, 2018) A stinger missile team with the with the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, identify an unmanned aerial vehicle target, during RIMPAC 2018 at Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, July 24. The training exercise is in support of the Army's Multi-Domain Task Force Pilot Program (MDTF-PP) and demonstrates the ability to detect, track, and defeat air and ballistic missile threats in a joint and allied multi-domain environment. Twenty-five nations, 46 ships, five submarines, and about 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 27 to Aug. 2 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security of the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2018 is the 26th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Army photo by SFC Claudio Tejada/Released)  

PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY BARKING SANDS, HAWAII, UNITED STATES

07.24.2018

Courtesy Story

35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade

By 1st Lt. David Lara, 6-52 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade


The 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, of the 35th ADA Brigade, based in the Republic of Korea, recently had the opportunity to participate in the first ever training exercise for the Multi Domain Task Force Pilot Program (MDTF-PP) in support of the world’s largest maritime exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2018. Their mission was to provide Short Range Air Defense capabilities in the form of Avenger firing units as part of an unknown aircraft live fire scenario at Pacific Missile Range Facility located on the island of Kauai.

The tactical scenario of the live fire exercise was a proof of concept for command and control of air defense assets that are forward deployed away from the task force footprint by combining all joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms into a common operational picture by utilizing Link-16. To accomplish this the task force employed the 17th Fires Brigade to disseminate air defense warnings and weapons control statuses that come directly from the task force commander. They then employed members of the Sentinel section from the 25th Infantry Division Artillery cell on the island of Kauai to act as a local command and control node and disseminate early warning to Avenger firing units.

In accordance with the training objectives outlined by the MDTF commander, Colonel Christopher Wendland, the ADAM and DIVARTY cell trained to classify live air tracks and disseminate firing orders from the brigade TOC directly to the Avenger firing units. From there the Avenger teams were able to prioritize tracks and identify hostile tracks using their targeting consoles and crew chief air situational displays and send positive confirmation back up to the TOC on Oahu in real time utilizing both data and voice communications.

In the first of the two live fire engagements, the team of Spc. David Fausz and Pfc. Matthew Munoz fired from the Avenger platform demonstrating fully operational SHORAD operations. They received their weapons control status and air defense warning updates, and were notified of a hostile unmanned aircraft entering their engagement area. They were then issued the firing order which provided them the live track data necessary to complete the engagements while allowing the personnel to ensure the battlespace was clear of all friendly aerial and maritime assets. After the engagement the crew was able to immediately relay the engagement report directly to the TOC on Oahu, allowing the task force commander to have immediate knowledge of a destroyed enemy reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition (RISTA) threat in the task force’s area of operations.

The second engagement conducted by Sgt. Aaron Nash and Spc. Cody Crabtree demonstrated the ability of SHORAD assets to effectively operate in degraded operations. The scenario required the pair to simulate a loss of their Avenger system and convert to manned portable air defense (MANPAD) operations which is the shoulder-fired variant of the Stinger missile. They also lost the capability to communicate and receive air tracks through real time data, restricting them to voice communications with the command and control node. The command and control node communicated the real time track data to the Stinger team allowing them to identify the remote control miniature aerial target (RCMAT) which simulated an enemy unmanned aerial system. Utilizing their visual aircraft recognition training, the team executed a successful engagement. They then utilized the control node as a relay to send an updated situation report which allowed the MDTF commander to have the same updated situational awareness as when the team operates from the Avenger system.

The success of the live fire scenario was a large victory for the air defense community as it was part of the first attempt at integrating U.S. Army SHORAD assets in support of the pilot program for the MDTF. The ability to demonstrate that these assets could tie into the joint network and successfully complete their mission while forward of the task force footprint met the commander’s intent and showcased SHORAD during a time where the Army is working to rebuild capability throughout its forces. Moving forward, exercises such as this that employ a wider variety of ISR assets and joint platforms will allow the knowledge and utilization of SHORAD capabilities to expand across the Army.

• Date Taken: 07.24.2018
• Date Posted: 08.21.2018 21:56
• Story ID: 289755
• Location: PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY BARKING SANDS, HAWAII, US