Photo By Senior Airman Joseph Barron | A simulated geographically separated unit during a 352d Special Operations Support...... read more read more
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The 352d Special Operations Support Squadron Communications flight conducted an exercise Aug. 3 to 7 at RAF Mildenhall, England. The exercise tested the flight’s employment of tactical communication capabilities among three geographically separated units in a simulated contested environment.
“The thought process behind this exercise was to see how our Airmen would perform in a forward-deployed situation where near-peer adversaries would be contesting our communications by blocking our access to satellites,” said Staff Sgt. David Brown, 352 SOSS tactical communications planner.
The Airmen utilized line-of-sight radios, parabolic dishes and antennas to establish communications during the exercise. SOF communications has the advantage of agility – they are able to swiftly adapt, develop and field solutions to challenges in all environments.
“We’ll be trying to connect with other sites as well as get a connection with satellites,” said Airman 1st Class Brittany Savage, 352 SOSS radio frequency transmissions systems technician. “We have to keep an eye on communications security and ensure that we are able to troubleshoot our equipment to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible.”
Although separation of each site was simulated for the purposes of the exercise, the three different units’ inclusion was to replicate the challenges of communicating with physically distant teammates supporting the same mission.
“The purpose was to simulate a mission outside of our home station,” Savage said. “So if we were to separate for a bigger mission with allies or partners, it will give us an idea of what it would be like to establish communication with another area.”
The exercise provided a training opportunity for the Airmen to identify areas for improvement in skillsets they will utilize to support a variety of special operations forces. The skills and infrastructure knowledge trained here can be employed in any environment or location. These units will have opportunities to train in other arctic and austere conditions later this year.
“It’s a valuable experience for our Airmen,” Brown said. “It lets us see what we have to work on, what we’re good at and allows us to identify what we have to emphasize for training. This exercise prepares us to be ready to support any force that falls under Special Operations Command Europe. We would forward deploy to provide their planners and mission commanders with the communications they need to get the mission done.”
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2020 05:14 |
| Story ID: | 376116 |
| Location: | RAF MILDENHALL , SUFFOLK, GB |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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