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 Joint
National Training Capability gets tactical at Northern
Edge 06
The
recently-completed Northern Edge 2006 provided opportunities
to utilize U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint National Training
Capability to link together operators all over the Pacific
and enable seamless integration for operators from the Army,
Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
By Air Force Capt. Nathan D. Broshear
505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs
(HICKAM
AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii – June 16, 2006) –-
U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Joint
National Training Capability (JNTC) initiative took
another step forward at exercise Northern Edge 06 (NE06)
here June 5-16.
U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) used distributed mission
operations (DMO) to simulate a massive air and sea campaign
in the Alaskan area of operations. It was the first time
PACOM used the Pacific Air Operations Center here to conduct
a tactical-level DMO event.
Phil
Harvey, operations research analyst and assistant project
officer for NE06 at the Distributed Mission Operations
Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., heralded the exercise
as a big step for furthering the development of the JNTC,
reinforcing the value-added JNTC technology and processes
bring to
warfighter preparedness
by broadening and deepening the reach of joint context
to the tactical level.
"This is a tactical-level event that concentrates
on the trigger-puller in the aircraft or onboard a ship
to familiarize them with theatre operations and procedures
prior to entering an actual combat situation," said
Harvey.
USJFCOM is DoD's executive agent for developing and implementing
JNTC globally. Military commands and agencies throughout
the department use the capability to facilitate exercises
and train forces.
"For the first time, PACOM and Alaska Command have
integrated distributed training into an exercise so forces
do not have to leave their duty stations to conduct this
tactical-level training," explained Harvey. "We're
able to integrate all of the joint players into a large-scale
event using live training, virtual (people linked via simulators),
and constructive (wholly computer generated) entities."
The center at Kirtland provided simulated enemy aircraft
and air defenses to jets flying over the Gulf of Alaska
and the Pacific-Alaska range complex.
"While we're unable to field a large-scale enemy
force in real-life, the pilot in the cockpit will still
see a similar threat picture that they would encounter
in combat," said Harvey. "The live world and
virtual battlespace appear identical to players operating
in either environment. Joint troops are able to train side-by-side
as though they were working in the real world, under real
stress, in real-time conditions."
"Live fly is limited to the number of players you
can bring to the fight," said Air Force 1st Lt. Christopher
Evey, an acquisition engineer at the 505th Distributed
Warfare Group and project officer for NE06. "Using
simulations piped in from several different locations,
we're able to provide warfighters a more accurate picture
of an air and sea campaign."
Evey
said that during the exercise, ships in the Gulf of Alaska
see a data-linked battle picture on their scopes. "For
them, there's an incredibly large battle taking place on
their computer screens and they must react accordingly.
At the same time, real Navy ships are acting as enemy forces
while others are friendlies.
"We're able to paint a picture in the cockpit or
onboard a ship, so that the person pulling the trigger
or sitting at their terminal is able to train at the tactical
level," he said. "To that warrior, they're surrounded
by an environment that appears to have hundreds, even thousands,
of entities around them — just like in combat."
Other units participating in NE06 included Pacific Air
Forces, Air Combat Command, U.S. Army Alaska, Marine Forces
Pacific, Special Operations Command Pacific and the U.S.
Pacific Fleet.
Air Force Col. Leonard Moskal, the 505th Distributed Warfare
Group's commander, said NE06 was a success as a proof-of-concept
for forces in the Pacific theatre.
"Forces in the Pacific theatre are just beginning
to stand up simulators that can be tied into a larger virtual
battlespace," he said. "By proving that distributed
training can work for a large geographically separated
region more resources will be committed to virtual training — just
as we're seeing in the continental United States.
"This is the only way to conduct a large theatre
battle without actually going to war," concluded Moskal.
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