Missiles or signals? How Misawa’s Joint Threat Emitters keep Wild Weasel pilots combat ready

Photo By Senior Airman Leon Redfern | U.S. Air Force Maj. Daniel House, 35th Operations Support Squadron range operations officer, and members from the Joint Threat Emitter (JTE) system program office, stand in front of a recently installed JTE at Misawa Air Base, Japan, June 3, 2021. The new JTEs will produce better trained joint and bilateral pilots who are more capable to protect U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and defend Japan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Leon Redfern)  

MISAWA AIR BASE, AOMORI, JAPAN

06.03.2021

Story by Airman 1st Class Leon Redfern 

35th Fighter Wing

Misawa Air Base pilots are constantly training and attending exercises to hone their skills to fine points, but ultimately nothing beats real-world experiences when preparing to project agile combat air power.

Providing real-world scenarios is expensive and it can also be dangerous. Misawa AB, with the help of a commercial defense industry partner, recently installed two new Joint Threat Emitters (JTEs) to get as close to real-world conditions, as safely possible.

“To best train pilots, we have to give an accurate representation of enemy anti-air systems,” said Maj. Daniel House, 35th Operations Support Squadron range operations officer. “These JTEs allow us to prepare against enemy air defenses and stop them from destroying friendly aircraft in combat scenarios.”

These JTEs provide ground threat warnings to the aircraft via an electronic signal to simulate a surface-to-air missile or anti-aircraft artillery -- giving Wild Weasel, joint, and partner nation pilots realistic aerial combat training.

The threats aren't physical, but they emulate numerous types of radar, electronic warfare and other threats. The emitters also have the ability to respond to aircraft’s countermeasures and can help further train pilots by mirroring enemy tactics, techniques and procedures.

“The new JTEs provide multi-threat training by combining two subsystems into one package,” House said. “These JTEs allow Misawa to triple the amount of simulated anti-aircraft systems we’ve trained and operated with in previous years.”

Maj. Thomas Nichols, 13th Fighter Squadron chief of weapons and tactics, explained JTEs can go beyond just benefiting Air Force pilots at Misawa AB.

“These new assets will allow us to integrate with all forces across U.S. Forces Japan as well as Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces,” Nichols said. “We’ll have the ability to yield a better repeated and improved training together.”

Ultimately, the new JTEs will produce better trained joint and bilateral pilots who are more capable to protect U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and defend Japan.

• Date Taken: 06.03.2021
• Date Posted: 07.08.2021 21:52
• Story ID: 400581
• Location: MISAWA AIR BASE, AOMORI, JP