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NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- The sun beat down, reflecting off a dry lake bed as a recovery team consisting of Airmen from Dobbins Air Reserve Base completed placing markers, and began to scan the tops of the surrounding mountains. In the perfect, warm winter desert afternoon, they waited for signs of a mock air war.
An Airman held up a marker, testing the wind speeds of their location. Two helicopters rushed in and quickly vanished.
“There they are,” Lt. Col. Gregory Pelech, 94th Airlift Wing chief of safety, pointed out. “You can make them out right between those peaks.”
From above, the aircrew in a C-130 Hercules inspected the ground below, searching for their markers which designated where to drop their supplies and perform a landing, recovery and relaunch on this austere location.
The purpose of Red Flag 16-2 was to prepare our forces to fly, fight and win in air and space from the very first moment we enter combat operations, as a nation and as an alliance, said Col. Andrew Bernard, Red Flag 16-2 Air Expeditionary commander. In order to do this, the exercise provides realistic training in a combined air, ground, space and electronic threat environment.
Red Flag gives units the opportunity to simulate the first 10 days of war, said Lt. Col. Thomas Moffat, 700th Airlift Squadron director of operations. History has shown that those who make it through their first 10 combat missions have a much greater chance of surviving in a major war.
“Each Red Flag has its own personality,” Bernard explained. “With RF 16-2, we are able to emphasize and reinforce our strategic partnership with NATO Allies Italy and Turkey air forces. Each nation brought a large contingent to fly with us. In addition, all four U.S. military services are participating. The Navy sent a MH-60 Detachment, a U.S. Marine Corps Air Control Squadron, and two U.S. Army Special Forces units participating. Finally, this Red Flag showcases our total force with the support of Air Force Reserve Command’s 700th AS and their C-130H aircraft.”
The primary role Dobbins played in Red Flag 16-2 was infiltration and exfiltration of Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists and Special Forces.
“We were responsible for forward deploying the troops and supplying them,” said Capt. Anthony Toste, 700th AS C-130 Hercules pilot. “We have the ability to fly over a drop zone and position the troops without landing. Anytime you are in a hostile environment, the less time you are in the air the better.”
Once the troops and their supplies were dropped, they would go further on into the exercise.
Occasionally, the ground forces’ supplies would be too sensitive to be air dropped, which showcased another strength of the C-130, Toste said.
“We have the ability to do dirt and assault landings on dry river beds,” Toste exclaimed. “So this gives us the ability to land in austere locations on dry river or lake beds to off-load their equipment.”
The recovery team jumped into action once the supplies were dropped, and quickly loaded the Hercules’ once they landed on the lake bed. After being re-loaded, the aircrafts took off, with hardly a sign they were ever there.
Moffatt explained the importance of this scenario, “If all an adversary had to do to stop the Air Force was bomb our runways, there are not that many of them. The C-130’s ability to land on pretty much any flat surface of 3,000 feet provides flexibility should runways be taken out, but also allows us to deliver troops and equipment closer to the front lines, where it's needed the most.”
The timing of their drops and landings also play a key role in the aircraft’s mission.
“We have to make sure that we drop the troops and supplies on the ground at the right time and make sure they are safe,” Toste said. “We can’t afford to be five minutes early. Everything is timed to the minute or second. If timings off, we might come in when the location where we drop is being bombed.”
To get the timing right, the 700th AS crews had to be in constant communication with each other and other units.
“For a Reserve unit, this is a huge exercise,” Toste elaborated. “Working with fighters and seeing how they operate has been very different. We flew with fighter escorts. So we’d be listening to several radios at once plus our crew, plus we’re flying in formation. This definitely takes your situational awareness to the limit. Especially, the first couple of days as you are getting used to talking to all of those radio frequencies, and your crew and you’re doing air drops while you are being shot at.”
This was an invaluable experience for the younger crews, giving them their first 10 combat missions, Moffatt said. The concentrated nature of the exercise (10 missions in two weeks) increased their proficiency; instead of flying once or twice a month and maintaining currency, but not necessarily a high level of proficiency. The exposure to other weapons systems expanded their minds and made them think of more than just the C-130.
The opportunity to train in a full-up joint and coalition environment is an invaluable experience, said Moffatt. The war was fought over the 12,000-square-nautical mile Nevada Testing and Training Range, where the 700th AS flew against associated threats and aggressor aircraft.
Fighters led the way as the 700th AS flew into the battlespace.
“The escorts would go in before us and clear the airspace,” Toste said. “Then we would fly in, ensuring there were no surface-to-air missiles on the ground. It was pretty interesting to hear them on the radio.”
Because of altitude differences, the fighters weren’t visible from the C-130 cockpits during the fight.
“In an escort, the fighters are flying higher,” Toste explained. “So we can’t see them, because they are mapping everything out with their radar systems. It gives you a sense of security, knowing you are not out there by yourself and with someone who would protect you. It makes you feel safer.”
One of the key strengths and benefits of the C-130 is its ability to fly low and slow, Toste said.
“Because we are close to the ground, we can see a lot more,” the Hercules pilot added. “At 20,000 feet everything looks like a tree, but at 500 feet you see the blinking lights and signal mirrors. We are able to relay any movement we see on the ground – convoys, missile sites, etc. We have dedicated members of the crew who are constantly scanning the ground and we relay that to the fighters.”
Whenever they were targeted by enemies, their low altitude and slow speeds gave them a huge advantage.
“We can radar mask and terrain mask,” he said. “At 300 feet, we can put a mountain between us. At that low, we can stay undetectable. We aren’t a fast aircraft. We are a combat aircraft, but we aren’t built for speed, so we use that to our strength.”
The biggest takeaway from Red Flag was being able to put the training they received at home station to use in the exercises scenarios, Toste said.
“It’s been a really interesting exercise,” he elaborated. “We’ve gotten really good training on how to handle threats, the proper maneuvers, applying our weapons systems to get out of radar or missile lock and when to use them. I’ve learned how to employ the tactics that have been taught to us. We don’t have the active engagements that we do here [at Red Flag.]”
| Date Taken: | 03.02.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2016 14:34 |
| Story ID: | 215314 |
| Location: | NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NV, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Hercules supports total force at Red Flag, by Capt. Daniel Phelps, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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