The 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) is aligned under the 505th Command and Control Wing, in the 505th Test and Training Group, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The 605 TES is tasked with conducting Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) and Tactics Development and Evaluation (TD&E) events for the Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) enterprise. The battle management and tactical execution of long-range kill chains for air, surface, and ground targets is the mission-under-test which drives integration of these tasks across the squadron. The C2ISR enterprise is undergoing a complete overhaul throughout the next decade, and this is an unprecedented pace of change for the C2ISR enterprise, after 20+ years of neglect during the Counter Insurgency (COIN) era.
The 605 TES is focused on proactively keeping pace with modernization efforts and evolving Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of the Air Force (DAF) acquisition processes to ensure the warfighter receives systems and functionality that produce the best operational outcomes.
The 605 TES also provides subject matter experts (SMEs) for developmental testing and various other major command (MAJCOM) and joint special projects. The squadron operates one detachment and one operating location.
MISSION
To conduct comprehensive and unbiased OT&E of C2ISR systems and associated capabilities, ensuring their effectiveness and suitability for combat by proactively keeping pace with modernization efforts, and developing, refining, and integrating tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to meet warfighter’s needs and address peer threats.
VISION
A team of professionals executing a disciplined approach to testing and evaluation that integrates TTPs into complex systems, hardware, and software resulting in significant contributions to realistic operational outcomes for the warfighter.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The 605 TES headquarters at Hurlburt is structured into three overall teams: a tactical C2 team, an operational/strategic C2 team, and an integration team. Each team contains SMEs from several mission areas across the C2ISR community. The integration team also includes the traditional Weapons & Tactics shop with the right experts to engage external organizations and operational end-users to guide and inform test efforts.
These three teams work together to ensure that OT&E and TD&E have an integrated approach across the squadron to ensure the best operational outcomes for the warfighter.
MISSIONS UNDER TEST
Battle management and tactical execution of long-range kill chains (LRKCs) in the air, surface, and ground domains.
SYSTEMS UNDER TEST
Air Operations Center (AOC), Tactical Air Control Party (TACP)/Air Support Operations Center (ASOC), Nuclear Command, Control, Communications & Cryptographic Devices (NC3/Crypto), Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS), Cloud-Based Command and Control (CBC2), Control and Reporting Center (CRC), Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L), Battlespace Control System-Fixed (BCS-F), National Capitol Region – Integrated Air Defense System (NCR-IADS), E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), E-7 Wedgetail, and pieces of mission enablers like datalinks and cyber.
PERSONNEL
The 605 TES has approximately 28 enlisted Airmen, 20 officers, 50 civilians, and 11 contractors assigned across the squadron, detachment, and operating location.
HISTORY
The 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron is currently the most decorated squadron assigned to the 505th Command and Control Wing.
The squadron traces its roots to the 605th Tactical Control Squadron established on 5 December and activated on 15 December 1945 at Biggs Field, Texas. The unit was initially assigned to the 502nd Tactical Control Group then was transferred to Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, on 13 January 1947. However, their time there was short-lived as the unit moved to Pope Air Force Base (AFB), North Carolina, on 27 June 1949 and remained there through 27 August 1950 when the unit moved to Korea. They arrived at Pusan Air Base, South Korea, on 24 September 1950. They frequently moved while in Korea bouncing from Pusan to Taegu Air Base on 1 October 1950, Seoul, on 14 October, back to Taegu Air Base on 16 December, and finally back to Seoul on 10 June 1951.
Following hostilities, the squadron arrived at Osan-ni (Osan) Air Base, South Korea, on 25 January 1954. The squadron moved to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, on 15 April 1959 for a short period before settling in at Clark Air Base, Philippines, on 21 October 1959 as an element of the 5th Communications and Control Group where they remained through the squadron’s first inactivation on 1 October 1961. Two years later, the squadron was reactivated on 10 December 1963 and organized on 8 April 1964 at Clark Air Base, Philippines, under the 5th Tactical Control Group. The squadron remained here through their second inactivation on 31 December 1971.
The 605th Tactical Control Squadron was redesignated as the 605th Test Squadron on 9 April 1993. The squadron activated six-days later on 15 April 1993 at Eglin AFB, Florida, under the 505th Command and Control Evaluation Group.
The 605th Test Squadron moved to its present location on Hurlburt Field on 30 September 1997. When the Air Force Command and Control Training and Innovation Group was redesignated as the 505th Command and Control Wing on 12 March 2004, the 605th Test Squadron was redesignated as the 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron and assigned to the 505th Operations Group under the new wing. The 505th Operations Group was redesignated as the 505th Test and Evaluation Group on 31 March 2011 and then redesignated again as the 505th Test and Training Group on 1 August 2019. Detachment 2, 605 TES at Robins AFB, Georgia, and Detachment 3, 605 TES at Beale AFB, California, were reassigned to the 505th Test and Training Group as Direct Reporting Units on 1 June 2024.
OPERATING LOCATION
605 TES, Operating Location A (OL-A) is located at the Ryan Center on Langley AFB, Virginia, and is a part of the team that conducts OT&E on the Air Operations Center (AOC).
DETACHMENT
Detachment 1, 605 TES at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, conducts OT&E and TD&E for the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft as part of the AWACS Combined Test Force (CTF). Detachment 1 is responsible for planning, coordinating, and flying test sorties on Air Combat Command (ACC) E-3s, Japanese E-767 aircraft, and other airborne command and control platforms as able. Detachment 1 is also leading early involvement test efforts for the E-7 Wedgetail program, which is slated to replace the E-3 AWACS.
505TH COMMAND AND CONTROL WING (CCW) PUBLIC AFFAIRS
For more information about the 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron’s mission, contact the 505 CCW Public Affairs Advisor at 850-884-9476 or 505ccw.pa.publicaffairs@us.af.mil.
(Current as of June 2024)