Air Ops Center wraps up Valiant Shield

  • Published
  • By Capt. Yvonne Levardi
  • Kenney Headquarters Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) --  After nearly 2,000 sorties, the Kenney Headquarters' Pacific Air Operations Center team, assembled to orchestrate air operations for Valiant Shield, concluded the exercise.

"We had a very successful exercise," said Maj. Paul Hahn of the headquarter's Combat Operations Division. "This was a great opportunity to practice joint interoperability with our Navy counterparts as if it were a real-world situation."

About 35 Sailors deployed to Hickam June 19 to 23 to create the joint team.

"We're very excited about Valiant Shield because it's an opportunity to interface large numbers of our air and sea forces together in a very unique environment and to work out some of what we call frictions," said Lt. Gen. David Deptula, KHQ commander.

"Karl Von Clausewitz talked about the ‘frictions of warfare' and that's very true when you get into any kind of operational event," the general said. "You find out things that might not go as you would have anticipated or planned. These types of exercises allow us to work out those challenges in advance."

Valiant Shield is one of the largest annual exercises in the western Pacific. This year it involved about 30 ships, 280 aircraft, and 22,000 Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Marines working together to enhance joint combat skills and interoperability.

Although operations for the exercise were conducted in the vicinity of Guam, General Deptula, the joint forces air component commander, conducted air operations from here.

"I am the JFACC for Admiral Gary Roughead (commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet), who is the joint task force commander for this exercise," General Deptula said. "My role in this whole organization is to apply planning and execution and monitoring and assessment techniques for all of the air forces involved in the exercise.

"In KHQ, we basically plan and then orchestrate the application of all of the air activities (for an operation or exercise) regardless of service," he said. "So for Valiant Shield, I work for Admiral Roughead in that regard; my deputy was a Navy two-star admiral.

"We're not interested in what Navy or Air Force airplanes are doing separately," the general said. "We take the approach that airpower is airpower and we're interested in ensuring we take a unified stance in working those assets together with our sea-based assets in achieving the commander's overall objectives."

The exercise focused on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces. About 800 Airmen and a mix of more than 50 Air Force fighters, bombers, mobility and support aircraft participated.