Exercise Valiant Shield wraps up

US Air Force,

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii : Exercise Valiant Shield 2007, the largest exercise of its kind in the Pacific, wrapped up eight days of flying operations Aug.13.

During the field training exercise, more than 2,900 sorties were flown, with KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-10 Extenders offloading 2.29 million pounds of fuel to airborne aircraft.

B-52 Stratofortress, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, KC-135 and E-3 Sentry aircraft flew defensive counter air, electronic attack, suppression of enemy air defense, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling, air interdiction, and antisurface warfare missions to support synchronized, joint operations in the vicinity of Guam. Navy F/A-18 Hornets, Hawker Hunters and Lear jets, along with F-16s and B-52s flew more than 400 additional sorties as opposing forces during the exercise.

Thirteenth Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base was the overall lead agency for planning the joint U.S. exercise and served as the joint force air component command under Joint Task Force-519.

“In an exercise such as Valiant Shield, 13th Air Force, as the JFACC, provides the command and control capability that allows a synchronized air effort with the surface and the sub-surface efforts, as well as space and other capabilities, into one campaign,” said Lt. Gen. Loyd S. Utterback, the Valiant Shield joint force air component commander. “During Valiant Shield, we were able to validate our capability to work through a tough tactical- and operational-level problem in a joint construct.”

Given the Herculean task to plan this large-scale event, exercise planners established specific training objectives that broadly defined enhanced joint warfighting integration and synchronization of forces at the tactical level.

Building upon the lessons learned from last year and under the direction of the JTF-519 commander, “exercise planners built upon the overall vision to integrate the force jointly to create the seamless operations that allow real-time application of military power when needed,” said Col. Tim Saffold, the lead exercise planner and 613th Air and Space Operations Center deputy commander. “Forces, command and control elements, and additional units that didn't participate in last year's exercise created a more robust, energetic training opportunity this year.”

“The complexity level mixed with the scale of the field-training exercise, along with the command and control, makes Valiant Shield unmatched,” General Utterback said. “Our operational tempo this year was higher than last year because we learned lessons and are attempting to apply those lessons and integrate new technologies and command and control capability.”

“For example, bombers coming out of a continental U.S. base were integrated with aircraft launching from aircraft carriers and more than 60 aircraft based at Andersen AFB, Guam, into one scenario. The integration of global capability has taken us to a new level in this exercise,” the general said.

Exercise planning had to incorporate long flight times, long transit times for surface vessels, and integrate communications, the space element, and intelligence that provides warfighters the information necessary to create the desired effect on the battlefield. Meanwhile command and control elements under the control of the JFACC coordinated the effort with the joint force maritime component command in San Diego.

The importance of exercising joint operations to better prepare the total force to respond when needed to promote regional peace and stability in the Pacific region, whether by assisting during a humanitarian crisis or natural disaster or fighting the war on terrorism, is invaluable.

“You train as individual services and individual units within that service to build a core competency, which allows you to come into a joint arena,” General Utterback said. “Joint means bringing the capabilities and the competencies of highly-trained, specialized forces together to create a synergistic effect.”

The training location is ideal for a large-scale exercise like Valiant Shield. There is open airspace and open water, creating hundreds of miles of training area in each direction of the battle space. From a JFACC perspective, the ramp at Andersen AFB can accommodate a large number of aircraft and the support infrastructure there is robust.

“At the lowest level, my objective is for our Airmen, Sailors, and Soldiers to take away a confidence in the joint capabilities they bring to the fight, to have a confidence in their tactics, techniques and procedures, and to have a confidence in the fact that we can bring all elements of the fight together right here in 13th Air Force to create the desired effect for the JTF commander,” General Utterback said. “What often gets missed in a big exercise like this, is the individual Airman and Sailor who's out there either below deck or in that hot, humid weather at Andersen fixing an engine on a 40-year-old B-52 or working on an F-16 or F-18. Those guys really make all of this come together.”

This is the second year the United States has conducted Valiant Shield. The first was in June 2006. The series of exercises focus on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces and enable real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces and in detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land, and in cyberspace in response to range of mission areas.

“It all comes together out here in the Pacific,” General Utterback said.