Photo By Staff Sgt. Wren Fiontar | A Japan Maritime Self Defense Force security specialist provides security during...... read more read more
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Ten U.S. Air Force subject matter experts flew to Iwoto Island to perform skill exchange trainings alongside Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force partners as part of the Cope North 23 field exercise at the Iwo To Japan Maritime Self Defense Force Air Station, Japan, Japan, Feb. 21-22, 2023.
Cope North 23 is a multi-lateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) effort to develop Agile Combat Employment concepts between allied forces via large force deployment and aerial combat training.
The Iwoto team exchanged information on combat offload methods, airfield surveys, and asset security details.
“Our experts are here to impart skills advance survey teams would employ in contested areas,” said Lt. Col. Paul Cooper, 36th Contingency Response Group deputy commander. “Improving interoperability for a potential Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) event is what will make all mission partner force members more effective should the call come.”
Combat offload training began immediately after members of the 36th Airlift Squadron landed a C-130J Super Hercules at the airfield, consisting of manual techniques of safely moving heavy cargo from an aircraft with minimal equipment.
“We refer to it as method ‘B’ for cargo offloads,” said Staff Sgt. Taylor Pate, 36th CRS aerial porter. “Cargo still must move even if there’s insufficient heavy equipment at a destination, so we employ a few methods to ensure we can deliver safely. Here we showed our partners how to slide a pallet onto supports, vs just dropping it on the flightline.”
When there’s a demand to move aircraft and equipment to a new area, survey teams deploy to verify the status of an existing installation and what it can handle. Survey experts use specialized knowledge and tools to generate detailed reports that strategic planners utilize to effectively mobilize forces.
“Surfaces tend to fail in ‘touch points’ wherever planes and vehicles roll over it,” said Master Sgt. Yelida Del Valle Ruiz, 554th Red Horse Squadron contingency airfield pavement evaluator. “We show how to spot damage, operate a dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), and generate detailed reports. It helps our JASDF partners by giving them more tools to check how safe an airfield is to use and for what aircraft the airfield can handle.”
Advance teams and aircraft require protection in potentially contested areas that is provided by security specialists, but ACE training with mission partners can enable forces from other areas to supplement defender positions as required, making for a more flexible force that requires less manpower overall to complete the same effort otherwise.
“We’re learning security procedures from JASDF members too,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua Tate, 36th Airlift Wing religious affairs specialist. “I feel very confident working alongside JASDF members, as its very clear they’re serious about improving the mission and are eager to learn more about airfield security operations. It’s important to exchange this knowledge to ensure the ability of joint teams to protect their assets as part of coalition forces in contested areas.”
Established in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Cope North moved to Andersen AFB in 1999. It is U.S. Pacific Air Forces’ largest multilateral exercise.
For more information about Cope North and U.S. Pacific Air Force’s participation, call U.S. Pacific Air Force Public Affairs at (808) 448-3225 or (808) 221-6148
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.10.2023 11:12 |
| Story ID: | 459586 |
| Location: | JP |
| Web Views: | 173 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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