EBBING AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ark. – Three Airmen from the 188th Operations Group recently participated in a 10-day, high-tech, virtual combat exercise alongside personnel from the Air National Guard, active-duty Air Force, Army, Marines, U.S. Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, and Royal Australian Navy.
The collaborative exercise lasted 15 days and focused on deterring and defeating near-peer adversaries in a simulated environment, strengthening joint and coalition partnerships by refining chain of command procedures, rules of engagement (ROE), doctrine, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) across services and nations.
“Fleet Synthetic Training is an ideal integration opportunity for MQ-9 capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Linn, the 184th Attack Squadron (ATKS) commander. “We are selected for these opportunities because we maintain a high standard of performance and have shown that we can produce effective results for combatant commanders. The knowledge gained and shared in this environment help to shape future integration to meet National Defense Strategy objectives.”
This year, the 184th ATKS’s role was to provide Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Dynamic Targeting (DT) support against simulated enemy ships and aircraft to shape the battlespace and neutralize threats.
“We successfully demonstrated our value to a diverse joint and coalition audience,” said Capt. Jonathan Parks, a 188th Operations Group exercise participant. “We were also able to educate partner forces on how to optimally integrate and employ MQ-9 assets in contested environments.”
While the 184th ATKS Airmen were teaching, they were also learning and gaining operational insights during the exercise.
“Now that we understand their command structures, we can seamlessly plug into their frameworks,” added Parks. “This mutual understanding will lead to faster integration, better cross-domain communication, and accelerated kill chains in future real-world joint and coalition operations.”
Participation in the exercise enhances the 188th Operations Group’s interoperability with joint and international partners, improving readiness for future operations in contested environments.