MCMULLEN COUNTY, Texas - Army aviators face unparalleled challenges as they engage ever-evolving enemy forces in combat. From ground combatants to surface-to-air missiles, the threats air assets face push our warriors to achieve new milestones in realistic training.
For the soldiers of Detachment 1, F Company, 1-171 General Support Aviation Battalion, this means pioneering a new training exercise that will revolutionize aviation safety in the battlefield. On Nov. 1 and 2, the detachment, which is a part of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, traveled to Yankee Range in McMullen County, Texas, to integrate their surface-to-air missile simulator with their reactionary counter-missile systems on the aircraft.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Pfc. Jarrod Bueno, a crew chief with Detachment 1, “to be able to take our results and send to the rest of the Army and see how other [medical evacuation] units will develop their own [standing operating procedures.]”
For this groundbreaking training event, Army aviation representatives were onsite to record the results for distribution throughout all components.
“We’re going to take the lessons learned here,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Tom McClellan, Army aviation chief tactical operations officer, “and the training plan developed, we’re going to refine that, apply that for all Army units, National Guard, active duty and reserve units, Army-wide, to duplicate what we’re doing here today.”
The training integrated the current missile-launching ground simulator with the long-standing helicopter common missile warning system.
“The CMWS system was developed about 10 years ago for Army aircraft to save the air crew from a missile engagement,” said McClellan. “Ideally, we want to stimulate the aircraft, fire the missile up into the air and the aircraft is going to recognize that and then react with its countermeasures appropriately to defend the aircraft from that missile engagement.”
That defense comes in the form of decoy heat flares that attract the missiles away from the aircraft, saving the crew from the threat.
“It will stimulate the aircraft countermeasure systems to automatically fire the flares,” said McClellan. “This is going to train the air crew on the correct cockpit indications as well as seeing visually what the flares are going to look like.”
Deployment of the flares in a training environment represents a key component to the operation, as most aviators use the CMWS for the first time during deployments in a real-life engagement.
“Exposure is the most common thing that we need in training,” said Staff Sgt. Isaac Soto, a flight medic with Detachment 1. “My first experience with this was in country in Iraq in 2008/2009. It was not a training situation where it’ll go off and everything’s safe. I think this, right here, is the first step.”
The training event took place at Yankee Range, a Navy-owned facility operated by the Texas Air National Guard. Its vast expanses and open airspaces made it the ideal location for testing these defense systems.
“Here at the range,” said Air Force Capt. Eric R. Hoopes, Commander of Detachment 1, 149th Fighter Wing. “Our number one goal and vision is to set up the most realistic training that we can in order to give the troops an at-home training site of what they’re going to see in the theater.”
The pioneers of this equipment integration have a long history of mission success, including multiple deployments to Iraq and stateside disaster missions such as hurricane relief.
“There’s no question,” said Lt. Col. Jim Nugent, full-time officer in charge of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade. “The level of tactical proficiency and competence here in this group.”
| Date Taken: | 11.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 11.07.2011 21:46 |
| Story ID: | 79692 |
| Location: | YANKEE RANGE, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 106 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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