Live-fly exercise trains Airmen for combat mission

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kerry Jackson
  • 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE Ariz. (AFPN) --  More than 100 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern Airmen will train the way they fight as they participate in Mesa Fury 2007, a large force exercise Nov. 5 to Nov. 9. 

Mesa Fury 2007, a joint forces exercise, is designed to allow Airmen and participating Department of Defense combat units an opportunity to practice large force execution at the tactical and operational levels of war. 

"Our goal during Mesa Fury is to exercise the capability of the [Combined Air and Space Operations Center] to command and control a large geographically separated force," said Col. John Marselus, the commander of the James Doolittle Combined Air and Space Operations Center here. "The exercise will also provide our aircrew an arena to fly and fight alongside other aircraft they may routinely fly with on the battlefield but may not routinely train with. This exercise builds and perfects the skill our pilots and CAOC operators need to be most effective in fighting the global war on terror." 

This exercise fully integrates real-time live-flying to better prepare aircrew for conditions they may encounter in Iraq or Afghanistan like close-air and urban-air-support strategies. 

The CAOC, whose job it is to communicate strategic direction from the Combined Forces Air Component Commander Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, will command and control operations from a test and training center here separate from real-world operations taking place on the 26,750-square-feet floor of the James Doolittle Center. According to Colonel Marselus, the exercise will not interfere with on-going real-world operations. 

Command and control of large force exercises is nothing new to the Doolittle CAOC. The last large force exercise the unit participated in was Blue Flag 07-2, and unlike Mesa Fury 2008, the scenarios were computer generated, with simulated flying. 

"There is a unique set of issues that come up when you're dealing with real-live airplanes," said Lt. Col. Allen Hansen, the Mesa Fury coordinator and lead planner. "The computer can say on a 95 percent basis that an airplane is going to take off, and it's going to hit its target, but in reality something may [come] up that changes that percentage, lowers it drastically, and of course, causes people to [adjust] their processes and their plans to make things happen. So, there are issues that come up with a live-fly that you just can't anticipate and the computer doesn't take this into account well." 

The live-flying will be conducted in Utah at the Utah Test and Training Range where a variety aircraft will participate to include the A-10 Thunderbolt II from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz; the F-16 Fighting Falcon from Hill AFB, Utah and Luke AFB, Ariz; the F-15E Strike Eagle from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho; the F-117A Nighthawk from Holloman AFB, N.M.; the E-3 Sentry from Tinker AFB, Okla., the KC-10 Extender from Travis AFB, Calif, the KC-135 Stratotanker from Grand Forks AFB, N.D. and MacDill AFB, Florida, and the F/A-18 Hornets from Lemoore Naval Air Station, Calif. 

This is the first live-fly exercise that the James Doolittle CAOC has participated in since opening its doors in May. The exercise consists of a week long planning period followed by four days of live-fly execution with two vulnerability periods per day. 

This is the second large-forces exercise that 12th AF and AFSOUTH have participated in this year. Under the 12th Air Force umbrella, the command leads seven active-duty wings and three direct reporting units in the western and midwestern United States. As AFSOUTH, the command oversees all Air Force assets, five forward operating locations in Central, South America and the Caribbean. 

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