Preparing our Lancer Aircrew

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kylee Gardner | The Surface-to-Air simulator carries three inert missiles and specially placed heat signatures to mock a real moving target at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Nov. 27, 2017. The mobile threat was first tested on Oct. 17, 2017 in support of the B-52 Stratofortress weapons range school training. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kylee Thomas)  

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, TX, UNITED STATES

12.08.2017

Story by Airman Kylee Gardner 

7th Bomb Wing

“Recently Dyess has developed and executed a unique support system for all Air Force Global Strike Command users in the Lancer Airspace,” says Lt. Col. William Alcorn, 7th Operations Support Squadron mission training center director.
This support systems consists of a repurposed control vehicle acting as a moving target truck that tows a surface-to-air missile simulator modeled like an SA-6 mobile surface-to-air missile system.
“The mobile threat was initially intended to be a static target for Lancer training purposes, however we came up with the idea to repurpose the white truck attached to the front to make it move,” said Major Robert Stinson, 7th OSS assistant director of operations . “Now we have a specific item that the aircrews can go out and look for during their training exercises.”
The moving target’s sole purpose is to provide aircrews with realistic training.
“The whole purpose behind the use of the mobile target is to create a realistic threat training scenario for our Lancer pilots,” explained Stinson. “It’s easy to go out and pick pre-existing, stationary structures and do practice bomb runs, but it’s extremely complicated in a contested environment to pick out a specific target that you’re looking for.”
The SA-6 look alike was created to give the impression of a real target our pilots might see in a deployed environment. The target truck has resulted in nothing but positive feedback from pilots who have been trained with it. It was first employed to get Lancer Aircrews ready for upcoming training.
“The target also has the capability to simulate the threat as it’s running with various heat blankets located inside specific spots of the vehicle that the pilots can see from above,” said Stinson. “We also have some future plans which includes using it for mobile target engagement training, simulated air to ground weapons training and link enabled targeting.”
Currently, the moving target is being used with thoughts of future pilots in mind. The use of the moving vehicle target has so far been a success with the B-1B Lancer community.
“We’re really striving to utilize the resources we already have right now to support the next generation of fighters and bombers,” said Stinson. “The pilots who have had the opportunity to train with the target said they never knew Lancer could be so tactical.”

• Date Taken: 12.08.2017
• Date Posted: 12.15.2017 11:38
• Story ID: 259052
• Location: DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, TX, US