By Capt. Catie Hague
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan " "Out of sight, never out of range," the Joint Radio Relay team is deployed to Bagram as maintenance support for the JR2 ground communications platform -- a system comparable in capability to the Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS.
This team -- made up of three Airmen and two government contractors -- is tasked with maintaining five JR2 systems strategically located at various remote sites throughout the Afghanistan area of operation.
"JR2 is used extensively for command and control in this AOR," said Tech. Sgt. Hank O'Neill, 455th Expeditionary Mission Support Squadron JR2 section chief. "It has replaced the AWACS, allowing this airborne platform to redeploy and saving an estimated $240,000 a day.
"Our goal is to make sure all remote systems are up and running 100 percent of the time," he said. "We work with the JR2 control site at Kandahar, which dispatches us at a moment's notice to make repairs at any of the five remote locations."
Forward sites can range from an hour to 10 days away. And the team does whatever it takes to get the job done.
"We are the hitchhikers of the AOR," said Eric Anderson, 455th EMSS JR2 contract support. "We've traveled by convoy and flown on virtually every air frame in theatre."
Since JR2 systems control about 80 percent of the aircraft flying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, it's critical to keep these systems fully operational.
Whether facilitating commercial airline transitions or vectoring in close air support for Coalition forces on the ground, JR2 is a one-of-a-kind system designed to connect air and ground assets, said Sergeant O'Neill.
"The five remote JR2 platforms maintained by our team are contained within 20- by 10- by 15-foot vans, which can be set up in about four hours and operate from anywhere," Mr. Anderson explained.
"They expand command and control capability hundreds of miles."
In a recent rescue and recovery operation near Ghazni, these remote JR2 systems proved their worth.
"A dust storm grounded four helicopters in mid-April, after one crashed, killing 18 people," stated Mr. Anderson. "We were able to use our remote JR2s to relay critical information about the missing aircraft and their manifests to A-10s performing airborne support for rescue and recovery efforts.
Without this system, we may never have known these aircraft went down until they failed to arrive at their destination."
As stated by Staff Sgt. Cody Williams, 455th EMSS JR2 team member, the information passed by these remote communication systems can save lives.
"JR2 provides the Soldiers and Marines on the ground the capability to call in air support â?¦ to call for help," he said. "And we make sure that call gets through."
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2005 09:17 |
| Story ID: | 1761 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 178 |
| Downloads: | 8 |
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