Mountain Home AFB Airmen save DOD more than 800K

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Benjamin Sutton
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho (AFNS) --  Members of the 266th Range Squadron here saved the Defense Department approximately $872,000 by assisting Sailors from Naval Air Station Whidbey, Wash., a with two-week joint service exercise.

Airmen assigned to the 266th RANS here have the unique and challenging mission of operating and maintaining the Joint Threat Emitter, an advanced electronic warfare training system of surface-to-air missile simulators. The system tests the aircrew's ability to recognize the threat then identify and react correctly.

"Typically, the pilots fly the aircraft all the way to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, from NAS Whidbey Island," said Master Sgt. Warren Davis, 266th RANS joint threat emitter work center assistant. "This time leadership decided to see if it would be more cost-effective and save some taxpayer money by having us drive out there."

According to Tech. Sgt. Steven Jones, a 266th RANS radar technician, it would have cost the DOD approximately $400,000 a week to fly here and back every week.

"Otherwise the pilots are flying from NAS Whidbey Island to Mountain Home (AFB), participating in the training, then flying all the way back, and are doing this every day for two weeks," Jones said.
The 266th RANS members were excited about the opportunity to assist a sister-service as well as get out and do some field training.

"We are taking our equipment to a foreign area and dealing with any adversity as it comes," Davis said. "Our threat system worked great by tracking the aircraft from the ground then giving off electronic signatures which, inside the aircraft, are viewed as hostile enemy targets they can then react to."

This training exercise was praised by 266th RANS radar experts.

"This exercise went exceptionally well," Jones said. "When you head into this type of an exercise, we really have no idea what to expect. We had the right team in place and things went extremely well."