News From USJFCOM: USJFCOM supports Australia, USPACOM in developing combined training capability

USJFCOM supports Australia, USPACOM in developing combined training capability

U.S. Joint Forces Command is supporting Australia and U.S. Pacific Command in developing Australia's Joint Combined Training Capability.
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By MCC(SW/AW) Chris Hoffpauir
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(NORFOLK - Oct. 27, 2006) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) are working with the Australian Defense Force (ADF) to develop that nation's Joint Combined Training Capability (JCTC).

JCTC will link to the Joint National Training Capability (JNTC), managed by USJFCOM's Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) in Suffolk, Va., through USPACOM in Hawaii, making Australia the first U.S. ally to directly connect to the JNTC.

USJFCOM and Australian Defence Simulation Office in Canberra are supporting the collaborative effort between USPACOM and the ADF.

The new capability will allow U.S. and Australian forces to link simulation networks, so they can train together in a live, virtual and constructive (L-V-C) environment which blends live tactical forces with manned simulators and sophisticated computer models.

Ed Juersivich, JNTC's operations management team deputy, said the JCTC is built on the JNTC architectures and will connect to it through the Joint Training and Experimentation Network.

The plan to develop JCTC began in 2004, with the Australian government funding the program through its initial operating capability in Exercise Talisman Saber 2007, a U.S.-Australian joint exercise that starts in May 2007. Australia's initial budget for the project was $21 million in U.S. currency or about $29 million in Australian dollars.

"It's funded primarily through the Australian government," Juersivich said. "The U.S. funding comes through the JNTC program, to make the connections to satisfy our requirement to have partner nation participation in an exercise outside the continental United States by 2007."

The live portions of the exercise will take place at the ADF's field training areas in Australia. Juersivich said Talisman Saber 2007 will be the first step toward globalizing the JNTC.

"U.S. forces will be using U.S. instrumentation systems," Juersivich said. "The Australians will be using Australian instrumentation systems, and we're going to prove that we can connect the two systems to interoperate. Then we'll share that information between the two ranges and US simulators to show worldwide connectivity."

"Australia is in USPACOM's AOR (area of responsibility), so everything we do is approved and coordinated with USPACOM," said U.S. Navy Capt. Alvin Kolpacke, USJFCOM's acting liaison officer supporting USPACOM for the initiative. He said USPACOM is working to rapidly expand its ability to conduct L-V-C training throughout the Pacific region.

"The idea is that USPACOM will eventually grow this JCTC concept to expand training throughout the USPACOM AOR," Kolpacke said. "This ties in very nicely to the Pacific Warfighting Center that USPACOM is in the process of building. They're going to break ground real soon on a specific facility on Ford Island, which will be the hub of their joint training in the Pacific."

The Australian government will decide whether or not to continue developing the JCTC after proving the concept in the exercise. Juersivich said USPACOM and USJFCOM are working on a U.S.-funded study, with Australian input, looking into the concepts and capabilities needed to bring a networked training capability in the Pacific to full operating capability in the future.

"The current goal is to prove the concept," Juersivich said. "There are no official plans to do anything beyond Talisman Saber 2007. Upon the successful completion of those concepts, they'll consider whether they want to extend this capability. Both the U.S. and Australia are very clear that they want to be absolutely certain that this is mutually supporting before they continue on."