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    Air Defenders stand ready

    Air Defenders stand ready

    Courtesy Photo | Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment “Fighting...... read more read more

    KAISERSLAUTERN, RP, GERMANY

    06.26.2015

    Courtesy Story

    10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command

    By 1st Lt. Noelle Kerr
    5-52 ADA

    GAZIANTEP, Turkey – “Battle Stations! Confirming receipt of tactical order, we are sunrise.” This is common lingo Patriot Air Defenders use during their training, meaning they are in full radiate and ready to protect their defended asset against all airborne threats.

    Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment “Fighting Deuce,” based out of Fort Bliss, Texas, along with German Patriot units at Kahramanmaraş, a Spanish Patriot unit at Adana, and the Air Defense Artillery Fire Control Officer located at the Turkish Control and Reporting Center in Diyarbakır are deployed to Turkey in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Operation Active Fence in order to protect host nation critical assets from Syrian Tactical Ballistic Missile threats.

    Even though OAF is primarily focused on the TBM threat, Air Defenders keep their skills sharp in all aspects of the fight. Together with the ADAFCO, Soldiers from both the German unit and the “Fighting Deuce” fought the first NATO coalition simulated Patriot air battle on June 4.

    “The training was a good spin up on how to work with other nations as a team to neutralize the threat,” said Staff Sgt. Marck Lungo, tactical director assistant in the Information and Coordination Central.

    As air defense becomes a more complex and multi-layered system, it is important to take advantage of coalition training opportunities, when they become available.

    "The necessity for coalition interoperability and training is imperative, especially as Air and Missile Defense requirements continue to increase across multiple theaters. I believe the training we conducted helped us move in that direction. Rarely, do air defense Soldiers get the opportunity to interact with our other NATO AMD allies on a continuous basis,” said Capt. Christopher Carter, ADAFCO, 69th ADA BDE.

    In times where demonstrating NATO resolve is gaining ground, these training opportunities strengthen the alliance by working through challenges and arriving at a common solution.

    “Through this exercise, we were also afforded the opportunity to determine certain aspects that worked as planned and others that failed, enabling us to develop methods to enrich future training events. This event also affords us, as air defenders, the opportunity to begin the development of coalition TTPs and doctrine,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Soares, 5-52 Battalion Standardization noncommissioned officer in charge.

    Although this was the first time such an event has taken place for the “Fighting Deuce” battalion, there will be many more in the future and the units are looking forward to working with their fellow NATO air defenders. Even for the first time, the training was a success and proved that Patriot Air Defenders, even internationally, are ready to perform their wartime mission.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 06.26.2015
    Date Posted: 06.26.2015 08:20
    Story ID: 168246
    Location: KAISERSLAUTERN, RP, DE

    Web Views: 762
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN