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505th Command and Control Wing News

U.S. JTACs train with counterparts from three nations for first time

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • 505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE --  A British pilot on a target run was instructed by Canadian Joint Terminal Attack Party controllers to look for a back end loader. 

The pilot was stumped. 

In Great Britain, the vehicle is called a digger; in America it's commonly known as a backhoe. Luckily, this was only an exercise. 

"You want to identify those kinds of things before you go overseas," said Warrant Officer Darcy Cyr, Canadian Forces Army JTAC, Air Land Integration Cell, and a veteran of operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. "You don't want to slow that kill chain by five minutes." 

Coalition Virtual Flag 09-4 was the perfect venue to identify language differences as well as tactics, techniques and procedures as JTACs from all four nations trained together for the first time with coalition aircraft in a large-scale virtual exercise. 

"It's the first time we've had Australian, Great Britain and the Canadians all together at the same time and it's a huge competition," said Tech. Sgt. Darrell Demotta, Tactical Air Control Party non-commissioned officer in charge at the 705th Combat Training Squadron. "And with coalition air assets," he added, referring to aircraft simulators from all four nations. Not only were they training with U.S. fighters, bombers, unmanned aerial systems, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, but also Australian F/A-18s, Canadian CF-18s and British Tornadoes, Typhoons and an AWACS. 

The JTACs participated on two simulators at the Distributed Mission Operations Center here, and one JTAC from a simulator in Ottawa, Canada. The 705th Combat Training Squadron, under the 505th Distributed Warfare Group and the 505th Command and Control Wing, conducts four joint Virtual Flag exercises a year. The wing's mission is to improve warfighter capability through command and control testing, tactics, development and training. But Coalition Virtual Flag was a first. 

"I don't believe there's anywhere else other than here that produces such a large-scale multinational exercise," said Flt. Lt. Matt Jupp, 601st TACP, a forward air controlling command unit, Royal Air Force, United Kingdom. 

JTACs calling in air strikes work in close proximity to coalition ground troops, so accuracy is essential. The exercise participants said their skills are much the same. The variations are in tactics, techniques and procedures, the capabilities of coalition aircraft, and colloquialisms. 

Flight Lieutenant Jupp likened the different ways the countries go about producing the same effect as "different ways of skinning a cat." However, it's important to train with common procedures. 

"Exposing ourselves to coalition TTPs prior to going over and doing it for real is critical to mission success," said WO Cyr. "We want to root out, identify and fix those challenges of working in a coalition context prior to going over." 

Another big difference is the TAC-P equipment at the DMOC. 

"We have TAC-P CAS, which is a digital close air support piece that no other country has right now," Sergeant Demotta said. "And here at the DMOC, we train to the entire digital CAS chain. We are using all the assets in the Theater Air Control System that TAC-P CAS can perform, which cannot be duplicated" anywhere else in the DMO, he added. 

A number of tools are used, including the Military Ruggedized Tablet, a portable computer that allows the JTACs to perform digital Close Air support with the same view as the pilot. A laser designator helps pilots to better identify a target. 

Air Commodore David Steele, Royal Australian Air Force Assistant Defence Attaché, said Australian JTACs have one of the same JTAC simulators as the DMOC back home in Williamtown, but the digital CAS is new. 

"(The JTACs) said there are quite a few new ideas they have from this other system that they'll hopefully take back to Australia and embed in the system we currently work with," said Air Commodore Steele. 

British JTACs Flight Lieutenant Jupp agreed that the training is invaluable. 

The biggest takeaway for the British JTACs is "the opportunity to work with our neighboring and coalition partners outside of a war zone, where we can learn and sit down afterwards and go through debriefs in a nonhostile environment," Lieutenant Jupp said.

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U.S. JTACs train with counterparts from three nations for first time

  • Published
  • By Noel Getlin
  • 505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE --  A British pilot on a target run was instructed by Canadian Joint Terminal Attack Party controllers to look for a back end loader. 

The pilot was stumped. 

In Great Britain, the vehicle is called a digger; in America it's commonly known as a backhoe. Luckily, this was only an exercise. 

"You want to identify those kinds of things before you go overseas," said Warrant Officer Darcy Cyr, Canadian Forces Army JTAC, Air Land Integration Cell, and a veteran of operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. "You don't want to slow that kill chain by five minutes." 

Coalition Virtual Flag 09-4 was the perfect venue to identify language differences as well as tactics, techniques and procedures as JTACs from all four nations trained together for the first time with coalition aircraft in a large-scale virtual exercise. 

"It's the first time we've had Australian, Great Britain and the Canadians all together at the same time and it's a huge competition," said Tech. Sgt. Darrell Demotta, Tactical Air Control Party non-commissioned officer in charge at the 705th Combat Training Squadron. "And with coalition air assets," he added, referring to aircraft simulators from all four nations. Not only were they training with U.S. fighters, bombers, unmanned aerial systems, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, but also Australian F/A-18s, Canadian CF-18s and British Tornadoes, Typhoons and an AWACS. 

The JTACs participated on two simulators at the Distributed Mission Operations Center here, and one JTAC from a simulator in Ottawa, Canada. The 705th Combat Training Squadron, under the 505th Distributed Warfare Group and the 505th Command and Control Wing, conducts four joint Virtual Flag exercises a year. The wing's mission is to improve warfighter capability through command and control testing, tactics, development and training. But Coalition Virtual Flag was a first. 

"I don't believe there's anywhere else other than here that produces such a large-scale multinational exercise," said Flt. Lt. Matt Jupp, 601st TACP, a forward air controlling command unit, Royal Air Force, United Kingdom. 

JTACs calling in air strikes work in close proximity to coalition ground troops, so accuracy is essential. The exercise participants said their skills are much the same. The variations are in tactics, techniques and procedures, the capabilities of coalition aircraft, and colloquialisms. 

Flight Lieutenant Jupp likened the different ways the countries go about producing the same effect as "different ways of skinning a cat." However, it's important to train with common procedures. 

"Exposing ourselves to coalition TTPs prior to going over and doing it for real is critical to mission success," said WO Cyr. "We want to root out, identify and fix those challenges of working in a coalition context prior to going over." 

Another big difference is the TAC-P equipment at the DMOC. 

"We have TAC-P CAS, which is a digital close air support piece that no other country has right now," Sergeant Demotta said. "And here at the DMOC, we train to the entire digital CAS chain. We are using all the assets in the Theater Air Control System that TAC-P CAS can perform, which cannot be duplicated" anywhere else in the DMO, he added. 

A number of tools are used, including the Military Ruggedized Tablet, a portable computer that allows the JTACs to perform digital Close Air support with the same view as the pilot. A laser designator helps pilots to better identify a target. 

Air Commodore David Steele, Royal Australian Air Force Assistant Defence Attaché, said Australian JTACs have one of the same JTAC simulators as the DMOC back home in Williamtown, but the digital CAS is new. 

"(The JTACs) said there are quite a few new ideas they have from this other system that they'll hopefully take back to Australia and embed in the system we currently work with," said Air Commodore Steele. 

British JTACs Flight Lieutenant Jupp agreed that the training is invaluable. 

The biggest takeaway for the British JTACs is "the opportunity to work with our neighboring and coalition partners outside of a war zone, where we can learn and sit down afterwards and go through debriefs in a nonhostile environment," Lieutenant Jupp said.