Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Charles Givens | A KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the Alaska Air National Guard and operated by an...... read more read more
In the heart of the Pacific, Sentry Aloha, a biannual training exercise, brought together innovation and training to sharpen combat capabilities of U.S. forces. This pivotal exercise helped the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC) advance modernization efforts of the Air Reserve Component (ARC), ensuring relevancy and preparedness for future operations.
The integrated Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Test team deliver rapid combat capability to the warfighter and continuously test new technologies in an operational environment. The Sentry Aloha exercise provided an ideal environment to test future combat capabilities as well as operate in a joint environment, all while supporting global operations.
One such test was an electronic warfare (EW) countermeasure system known as "Angry Kitten." This technology can be housed in removable, adaptable pods under aircraft wings or fuselages and uses machine learning to disrupt adversarial EW capabilities. During the exercise, AATC continued testing the angry kitten technology on the F-16 Fighting Falcon with plans to incorporate the pod onto larger airframes, such as the C-130 Hercules.
The Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) division is testing three different Tactic Improvement Proposals (TIP) while at Sentry Aloha. The three TIPs are Find, Fix, Track Downed Pilot at Sea, USMC Integration, and Maritime Wide Area Surveillance Characterization. AATC has partnered with the Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron three to execute these TIPs while simultaneously giving them excellent continuation training scenarios.
“Sentry Aloha has provided a maritime environment necessary for our Downed Pilot at Sea and Maritime Wide Area Surveillance Characterization. By working with our joint US Marine Corp and US Coast Guard partners, AATC was able to refine these maritime tactics, techniques, and procedures”, said Maj Ryan Nastase, ISR Division Chief.
AATC’s Special Warfare Division then simulated a downed pilot at sea by having a crew deploy a dye pack from a small boat. The team then optimized sensor settings to find the dye pack while also characterizing the range and duration they were able to see it. The lead project manager for the downed pilot at sea, Mr. Eric Berggren said, “This test has been extremely valuable since it was the first time we have used MQ-9 sensors to find downed aircrew. Tentative results indicate we can track downed aircrew beyond 70 nautical miles which will result in reduced rescue times.”
The newly appointed Deputy Commander of AATC, Col. David DeAngelis said “Sentry Aloha is one of the premier exercises in the Pacific, and it provides AATC with the opportunity to operate across 140 nautical miles of the Hawaiian island chain at four different operating locations.” Col. DeAngelis was also able to see the KC-135 team test integration of the Real-Time Information in the Cockpit system, also known as RTIC, which gives enhanced battlefield awareness. “Previously, our tankers had limited situational awareness, relying heavily on radio communications. Now, they can see threats in real-time, thanks to the integration of the Link-16 network,” he explained.
The integrated Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Test team deliver rapid combat capability to the warfighter and continuously test new technologies in an operational environment. The Sentry Aloha exercise provided an ideal environment to test future combat capabilities.
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2024 12:03 |
| Story ID: | 474782 |
| Location: | KONA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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