Photo By Capt. Katie Tamesis | Spanish soldiers load into a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook during Defender Europe 2023 at...... read more read more
By Captain Katie Tamesis
93d Air Ground Operations Public Affairs
ZARAGOZA AIR BASE, Spain-- Combat Weather Airmen from the 93d Air Ground Operations Wing (93 AGOW) participated in exercise “Defender Europe” as part of operation “Swift Response” at Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, May 3-18.
Defender Europe 2023 (DE23) is a U.S. European Command multi-national, joint exercise aimed to increase readiness and interoperability between U.S. and NATO allies. DE23 included more than 7,800 U.S. and 15,000 multi-national service members from 26 allied and partner nations.
The three Staff Weather Officer (SWO) Airmen from the 93 AGOW who participated in the exercise supported the 159 General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB), a U.S. Army reserve unit based out of Fort Eustis, Virginia, by enabling operations that showcased the U.S. military’s ability to rapidly deploy combat-capable troops and equipment.
“Defender Europe is a NATO exercise that helps reinforce the strategic and military capabilities of our NATO partnerships,” said Lt Col Nicholas Steele, 159 general support aviation battalion commander. “The exercise was focused on interoperability between U.S. and NATO forces working to ensure our military capabilities can integrate with NATO allies in a potential multinational domain. Our role in the exercise was to augment a Spanish Aviation Battalion task force, to support a Spanish Infantry Brigade conducting a Joint Forcible Entry and Air Assault.”
One of the main objectives of DE23 was to strengthen strategic partnerships and by working directly with the Spanish Army and Air Force it proved to be the perfect opportunity to enhance unanimity of allied forces.
“Normally for U.S. coalition forces, the coalition is led by a U.S. military element, but in this case, we were led, tasked and organized to fall underneath a Spanish military element,” said Steele. “It was challenging at first to overcome some of the language, cultural, and procedural differences between our units but as things progressed and we integrated our elements for planning and operations were able to achieve interoperability for deliberate actions.”
Along with the international collaboration, DE23 was also an opportunity for increased joint, multi-service partnership.
“This exercise was one of the most successful exercises I have seen in my experience of exercises with Army support, in terms of operations and mission execution,” said Senior Amn. Eric Alvarez, 18th Combat Weather Squadron SWO. “ It was fun, it was tough, I enjoyed it. It was definitely a different ball game but I had a blast.’
Combat Weather is a critical, determining factor in multi-domain operations and operates at both the strategic level with ISR teams and also tactically within functional brigades to ensure operations, either ground or air, are successfully executed.
“Giving weather updates/forecasts and briefing GSAB leadership with any weather threats and windows of operations is critical for the success of this exercise,” said Alvarez. “Any aspect of weather can hinder operations; whether it is high winds, low ceilings, low visibility, and any convective activity and giving leadership the ease of mind of knowing these kinds of things is the whole purpose of us being out here.”
The SWO team was able to provide the command team with the necessary weather info by creating 5-Day Area Forecasts, Mission Execution Forecasts (MEFs), verbal briefs and Flight Weather Briefings.
“Combat weather impacted the operations by giving the whole army staff a depiction of what meteorological phenomena they would experience and how it would impact their ops,” said Senior Amn. Uriah Clarkson. “Combat weather overall is designed to tailor our products for our customers specifically. Taking into account the mission of the unit we’re supporting their thresholds and impacts to make something that the staff can look at and use in their decision making process. Also to provide support for the base when it comes to asset protection being both personnel and equipment in case of significant weather events.”
In any mission, Combat Weather provides a uniquely critical capability unlike regular weather specialists due to their highly specialized training and knowledge about how environmental and meteorological factors impact combat efficiency and personnel safety; allowing supported commanders to exploit weather conditions for their tactical advantage and minimize the risk from adverse weather effects.
“With the ‘combat’ portion in mind, we as SWOs are trained to work with the Army and have the ability to adapt to work with any joint partner under any climate and environment, while also providing weather products and support to the command team and mission planners,” said Alvarez. “We do this by living in close quarters with Army personnel while also working around the clock when their operations are active.”
Especially in locations known for unpredictable and volatile conditions, a SWO is an invaluable member of any joint combat team.
“It was great to have the Air Force weather team here to provide and integrate as part of intelligence operations especially here in Zaragoza, a region famous for strong winds,” said Steele. “The strong winds are not persistent, but seasonal and it just so happens that upon arrival, the seasonal strong winds started, and have persisted for the duration of this exercise. We have had surface winds averaging between 20 and 30 miles per hour with gusts 35 to 40 knots. So the SWOs being able to provide updates for those winds and conditions was critical to our flight operations because the wind was near our aircraft starting and shutdown limits. Unfortunately, the high winds prevented the massive airborne operation that was planned, but we were able to use the helicopters to use a secondary insertion for an assault operation.”
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.21.2023 13:51 |
| Story ID: | 447642 |
| Location: | ZARAGOZA, ES |
| Web Views: | 479 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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Weather
Department of the Army
Special Operations Weather
DEFENDER-Europe 20
