AWACS reservists take part in Pacific exercise

Published July 19, 2010
By Lt. Col. Richard Curry
507th Air Refueling Wing

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- An E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft with 44 Air Force reservists from the 513th Air Control Group and one Airman from the Regular Air Force's 965th Airborne Air Control Squadron left for Hickam AFB, Hawaii, July 17 to participate in a major U.S Pacific Fleet exercise.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, called RIMPAC, is a series of multinational maritime exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. The AWACS reservists are slated to return to Oklahoma by July 24.

Held biennially by U.S. Pacific Fleet, the 2010 RIMPAC exercise is the 22nd time it has been held and the fifth time Oklahoma Air Force reservists have supported it.

Fourteen nations, 32 ships, five submarines and more than 170 aircraft and 20,000 personnel are taking part in 2010 RIMPAC. Other participating nations are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Peru, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Brazil, India and New Zealand are sending observers.

RIMPAC helps improve leadership at all levels, increase personnel proficiency and hone leadership's ability to adapt to rapid changes. Naval forces get to hone their skills in a variety of operations such as disaster response and anti-piracy operations. All of the training is done in a complex, challenging, multinational environment designed to improve cooperation and command and control operations.

The exercise has four distinct phases - Inport, Schedule of Events, Force Integration Training and Tactical. During the Inport phase, participants will continue to build on the relationships developed during the planning conferences.

During the Schedule of Events phase, maritime participants will work in smaller, multinational groups to rehearse and conduct gunnery, missile, anti-submarine, and air defense exercises, as well as maritime interdiction and vessel boardings, explosive ordnance disposal training, diving and salvage training, mine clearance activities, and support an amphibious landing. The land component will operate as a multinational force and conduct amphibious landings and assaults and fire support coordination exercises, and the Marine Corps warfighting lab will test enhanced company operations. The air component will fly a variety of sorties involving attack aircraft, bombers, tankers, electronic warfare and airlift.

The Force Integration Training phase provides a forum for integrated training with air, land and maritime forces to rehearse for the tactical phase. This phase also provides an opportunity for staff ashore to exercise operational level planning.

During the Tactical Phase, participants will transition into the execution of a warlike scenario consisting of unscheduled events where participants will have the opportunity to operate as they would during actual real world contingency or combat operations.

According to 513th officials, an advance team left in mid-July to participate in the FIT phase and help coordinate the integration of follow on AWAC assets into the Tactical Phase of the exercise.

"This is the first time our group has participated in RIMPAC," said Lt. Col. Wayne Polinski, 513th Operations Support Flight and director of operations for the deployed AWACS team, "RIMPAC will provide us the opportunity to work with maritime assets that we don't have available for our normal flight profiles. The majority of air assets will come from the U.S. Navy and Air Force but Australia and Canada will be participating so we will receive valuable international experience."

The colonel said the reserve team will become involved in another first-time experience - helping the Australian Royal Air Force with its Airborne Early Warning and Control platform.

Colonel Polinski said his people will help test the new AEWC platform for the Australian Air Force called Wedgetail. They will participate in a War at Sea Exercise, Dynamic targeting, Strike, and Combat Search and Rescue missions.

"We anticipate receiving some great interoperability training with the Navy along with working in a robust data link environment that will give our crews the experience they need to operate in any future joint environment," Colonel Polinski said.

"We're looking forward to the challenge of operating in a mixed aerial and naval environment while helping to find, target and direct engagement towards opponent forces," he said.