News>Warfighters meet in second coalition virtual battle
Photos
Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove and Air Marshal Richard Garwood came together in the Pentagon's Warfighter Capability Demonstration Center to discuss their continued encouragement of coalition play in synthetic training and distributed mission operations. Their discussion centered on live feeds from the training exercise Coalition Virtual Flag 10-4 at Kirtland AFB. General Breedlove is the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements and Air Marshal Garwood is the Royal Air Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Operations. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Col. Steven Dutkus kicks-off the coalition training efforts discussion between Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove and Air Marshal Richard Garwood. While in the Pentagon's Warfighter Capability Demonstration Center, they were able to view live feeds from the training exercise Coalition Virtual Flag 10-4 and discuss their continued encouragement of coalition play in synthetic training and distributed mission operations. General Breedlove is the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements, Air Marshal Garwood is the Royal Air Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Operations and Colonel Dutkus is from Air Force Air, Space and Information Operations (U.S. Air Force photo)
by Ana Santos de Dios
Secretary of the Air Force Communications
10/20/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The United States rarely goes to war on its own now. More than ever U.S. servicemembers work with coalition partners to win on the battlefield. In order to train for this, the 705th Combat Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. spent the last year preparing to host the second Coalition Virtual Flag exercise which took place recently in a virtual environment.
CVF 10-4 allowed warfighters from Australia, Canada and England to train with 20 operational and tactical U.S. units at the Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland AFB and numerous remote locations.
"Coalition Virtual Flag is warrior training at its very finest," said Lt. Col. Dan Pepper, the 705th CTS commander. "All exercise participants are better prepared to fight tomorrow's fight as a result of their participation in CVF."
Coalition Virtual Flag brings together U.S. and coalition participants to train together in distributed air, land, space and cybercombat scenarios. The exercise allows combatants to gain firsthand experience communicating and fighting with coalition partners before meeting on the battlefield.
"There are few comparable venues (compared to CVF), which provide the warfighter a robust and complex scenario and opportunity to train with coalition and joint warfighters," said Lt. Col. Douglas Horne, 705th CTS director of operations.
In addition to the virtual fight, CVF 10-4 demonstrations were held for a joint and coalition audience in the Pentagon's Warfighter Capability Demonstration Center. Lt. Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements, and Air Marshal Richard Garwood, the Royal Air Force deputy commander-in-chief operations, were on hand to discuss continued coalition training.
Despite being unable to visit CVF 10-4 operations at the DMOC, the WarCap functioned as a virtual portal, providing a dynamic view into the exercise, allowing General Breedlove and Air Marshal Garwood to witness firsthand the effectiveness and repeatability of this synthetic, distributed training model.
The next Coalition Virtual Flag is scheduled for September 2011.
