Courtesy Photo | Air Force Capt. Ben Wood, assigned to the 7th Expeditionary Weather Squadron based out...... read more read more
Subscribe
NOVO SELO TRAINING AREA, Bulgaria (July 21, 2017) — In times of conflict, weather can be our toughest obstacle or our greatest advantage. To ensure exercise Saber Guardian 17 (SG17) missions are safe and successful, the Air Force Staff Weather Officers (SWO) of 4th Air Support Combat Group (4th ASOG), Fort Drum, New York, are managing and directing weather predictions.
The SWO directly impact SG17 operations by using weather equipment to forecast the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade (10th CAB), who have provided rotary wing aircraft for use in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria during SG17.
The SWO’s duties involve integrating current and upcoming forecasts into operations and planning with 10th CAB daily. They remain operational for the entire exercise.
The first type of equipment SWO use is Tactical Meteorological Observation Equipment, TMQ-53, which is used to manage, perform and direct weather operations in developing important weather research studies.
“The TMQ-53 is the primary observing equipment we use when we are deployed, which is anywhere there are boots on the ground,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Brian Landrum, 18th Weather Squadron, 7th Expeditionary Weather Squadron (EWS), Wiesbaden Germany. “This tactical meteorological observing system can be disassembled into five different boxes for rapid deployment, which makes it ideal for an exercise like Saber Guardian 17.”
The other type of self-sustaining equipment SWO use is the Micro Weather Sensor (MWS). It is a lightweight, highly integrated environmental weather station capable of being deployed in isolated positions.
MWS can be hand positioned or air dropped for near real-time weather reporting for air and land operations. It collects local weather data and transmits it to the satellite network to command and control.
“The MWS is the hybrid of equipment because it can run off its built in solar panels.” Landrum said.
Capt. Ben Wood, office in charge (OIC) and staff weather officer, 7th EWS, updates the operations team regarding movements like medical evacuations, field movement exercises, and logistics. The 10th CAB and the OIC work together for every mission to make sure communications are as clear, precise and timely.
“Providing real-time weather updates to pilots and giving 10th CAB the three-day forecast is essential to each mission,” Wood said. “The Army provides all the equipment for the SWO, and we use it to provide the weather forecast.”
Staff Weather Officer Maj. Ben Fulk, 7th EWS, explains the work that goes into exercises like SG17.
“The work we are doing at Saber Guardian 17 is a combination of a year’s worth of planning and training for the SWO network, which includes 26 weather personnel from active duty Air force and Air National Guard,” Fulk said.
“Our motto is E NUBIBUS INFORMATIO,” he added, “which in Latin means ‘From the sky, knowledge,’ but for this exercise we follow up with, ‘The SWO is strong.’”
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2017 13:55 |
| Story ID: | 244700 |
| Location: | BG |
| Web Views: | 431 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Air Force weather officers critical to mission success during Saber Guardian 17, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT