US pilots plant SEAD with Turkish counterparts
Related Topics (5)
More related topics
KONYA, Turkey -- The Turkish and U.S. air forces continue to combine their air assets and share tactics in large-force employments during Exercise Anatolian Falcon 2012 here March 5-16.
During LFE exercises, units oftentimes take advantage of the high number of aircraft participating to test mass communication efforts, but the 480th Fighter Squadron pilots from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, are sharing suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses tactics with their Turkish counterparts.
SEAD, the 480th's specialty, is any action taken to deter enemy surface-to-air missiles or anti-aircraft artillery. The objective is not the destruction of the ground-based threats but to subdue those threats until an air mission is complete.
"Our enemies know some of the capabilities of SEAD teams," said Capt. David Dubel, 480th FS pilot. "The presence of a SEAD team is sometimes enough in itself to make our enemies flee and allow us to complete whatever mission we're on."
For Anatolian Falcon 2012, each air mission has an objective such as the destruction of a plotted target or the defeat of enemy aircraft. Mission planners assign groups of aircraft specific tasks, either offensive counter air, SEAD or ground attack.
Both nations employ the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a multi-faceted fighter aircraft that can combat threats in the air or on the ground. Turkish and U.S. military units train differently, and the various functions of the F-16 can lead pilots to specialize in or understand unique perspectives of the aircraft.
Large-scale exercises allow the NATO allies to share and build upon proven tactics and techniques. For the 480th, sharing their SEAD tactics with the Turkish air force helps both prepare for real combat.
"We're expecting to be targeted -- that's our job," Dubel said. "We have a lot of tactics to defend against those threats. There are different tactics as to whether the enemy is just looking at us, have a lock on us or have actually fired a missile.
"The [ground attack] mission is to get 100 percent bombs on target," he continued, "and SEAD's mission is to get 100 percent of the [ground attackers] home."
An exercise-evaluation team is on site to test the SEAD teams' capabilities to safeguard the ground-attack aircraft. The team members of the Multinational Aircrew Electronic Warfare Tactics Facility, also known as Polygone, use a mobile surface-to-air missile radar system to target and "destroy" the exercise aircraft.
The system forces the pilots to change their plans en-route, said Jack Graham, radar technician. Once the technicians switch the system to the radar or active mode, it emits a signal. The signal alerts the pilots to the radar's presence. The pilots then must identify the threat, assess the risks, attack the new threat or avoid the area all together.
Graham said he can mask the radar's location by switching off the detection system. Since the radar is mobile, the team can move to different locations as directed by the mission planners. As Anatolian Falcon 2012 continues, the location or frequency of attack changes to strain the SEAD capabilities of Turkey and the U.S.
"We keep the pilots on their toes so they're always prepared for the real event," he said. "As long as we keep them on their toes, we're doing a good job."
Dubel said some of the exercise scenarios are relatively calm until an unlocated surface-to-air missile system begins broadcasting a frequency.
"Our job is to sniff out the SAM systems and change the game plan," Dubel said. "We don't want to lose any of our players, which in the real world, would be our lives."
Find more articles tagged with:
-
USACE forward engineers train with Italians
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Forward Engineering Support Team-Advance (FEST-A) conducted training and remote engineering missions in partnership with Italian Army Reconnaissance Engineers here September 9-21, 2012.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Exercise Jackal Stone 2012 leaders, participants honor fallen SF comrade
Military members and civilians from the U.S. and Croatia honored the late Master Sgt. Ivica Jerak, a member of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, with a small memorial service held in his native town of Debeljak, Croatia, Sept. 22, 2012.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Ceremony ends 18th Combined Endeavor
On Sept. 20, a closing ceremony at the Joint Military Training Command on U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany, ended the 18th year of the world’s largest military communications exercise, Combined Endeavor 2012.Find more articles tagged with:
-
173rd Airborne Brigade, Italian carabinieri share training, experiences
Noncommissioned officers from the rear detachment of U.S. Army Europe's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team shared deployment experiences and lessons learned with Italian military law enforcement officers during cultural awareness and information operations training here, Sept. 11.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Schweinfurt flexes combat capability muscle with NATO exercise
Despite its announced closure earlier this year, the U.S. Army garrison here still has something to prove: Pitted between closing and remaining operational, it can also host a large-scale NATO exercise in its own backyard.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Kansas National Guard partners with HDTC for Humanitarian Demining in Armenia
Four soldiers from the Kansas National Guard are working with a civilian representative from the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Training Center to teach international Humanitarian Mine Action standards to members of the Engineering Companies of the Armenian Peacekeeping Brigades Sept. 18-28.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Operation Rhino Serpent 2012: US, German, British medical troops learn from one another during exercise
Operation Rhino Serpent, a multi-national medical field training exercise comprised of more than 550 U.S. Army Europe, German Armed Forces and British Armed Forces active duty Reservists and volunteersFind more articles tagged with:
-
Panther PacStar makes debut at CE12
For the 20 Airmen of the 1st Combat Communications Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, supporting Combined Endeavor 2012, this could potentially be a real scenario for them.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Croatian president visits Exercise Jackal Stone 2012 for Media Day
President Ivo Josipovic of Croatia visited the Josip Jovic Air Base in Udbina, Croatia during the Jackal Stone 2012 Media Day to observe demonstrations from Special Operations units from 11 nations participating in this year’s training event.Find more articles tagged with:
-
Jackal Stone 2012 participants take cultural tour of Croatia
Military personnel from 11 NATO-member nations took part in a tour of the Krka National Park located along the Krka River in Croatia on Sept. 15, 2012.Find more articles tagged with:
Comments: 0