Falconer major player in Red Flag

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Joe Bela
  • U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFPN) --  The airmen from U.S. Air Forces in Europe’s Falconer Air Operations Center are here integrating their craft with pilots and controllers who fly the missions over the “enemy” during Red Flag.

The center is comprised of 100 airmen, mostly from the 32nd Air Operations Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and its sister unit, the Air National Guard’s 152nd AOG from Syracuse, N.Y. The airmen plan, coordinate, execute and assess their warfighting capabilities with one objective in mind -- to achieve air and space dominance over the adversary.

Red Flag, the Air Force’s premier air combat-training event, is being held here Oct. 19 to 31, and this is the “first time a Falconer … is taking part in the … training,” said Maj. Mark Wiser, Falconer coordinator for Red Flag.

There has been a drive to get centers involved in Red Flag to bring the command and control aspect of war into the training, officials said.

“It’s an effort to integrate the operational level of war, which is what we do, with the tactical level -- putting the bombs on target,” Wiser said.

The move toward integrating centers into the exercise is a natural progression as new technologies emerge, but there are unique challenges to face on the road to integration, officials said.

“Technology is changing so fast that now we have the capability of precision beyond anything we thought of even a decade ago. But because of these capabilities, (the centers) have evolved into complex systems,” Wiser said.

“No two Falconers are alike. Our guidance, techniques and procedures are fairly new, so they tend not to match perfectly. Technology is advancing so fast that it’s difficult to have everybody on the same level of technology and experience,” he said.

“My hopes are that the next time the 32nd AOG (airmen deploy) to a theater, they will have used the combat applications and processes that they see, learn and train on here at Nellis,” said Paul Fast, a member of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.

“With the CAOC-N, we’ve embraced the idea of integrating at Red Flag. We’re working together,” Wiser said. “As a result of this training, I expect (we’ll come out of this) a stronger unit with the ability to better support USAFE and the Air Force.

“Yes, there are going to be some hurdles, some bumps as we integrate our operational mission with the tactical ‘bombs-on-target’ mission, but we’re here to learn from this experience,” he said.

One way the Air Force is helping with integration is by assigning “patch-wearers,” graduates from the U.S. Air Force Weapons School here, to the centers. The 32nd AOG has 10 assigned, all identified by the patch they wear after they graduate from the six-month school.

“The weapons school produces Ph.D.-caliber operators who are experts at the tactical level of employment in war,” said Maj. Anthony Roberson, assistant operations officer for the 32nd AOG.

“By large, the (center) is responsible for developing the strategy and providing the plans, and the command and control for the employment of those air and space forces that execute at the tactical level. Patch-wearers bring their years of tactical experience and knowledge to that process,” Roberson said.

“Some people don’t realize the level of tactical expertise that’s available at an air operations group,” he said. “Patch-wearers who have been out there ‘on-point’ and have done (the missions) are helping make decisions that put lives on the line.”

“What we do here will lead to cross talk, so all Falconers can share the knowledge and use what we accomplish here as a baseline to learn from,” Wiser said. “We’ll work toward standardizing our business, and this should lead to better-trained operational warfighters. (Courtesy of USAFE News Service)