Green Flag-West readies B-1 aircrews for future deployments

Published June 6, 2013
By Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo
7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Airmen from the 9th Bomb Squadron participated in a Green Flag-West exercise May 17-31, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in order to prepare for future deployments.

Green Flag-West is an exercise that provides units training on a scale not available near their home stations. It replicates irregular warfare conditions currently found in overseas contingency operations, training joint and coalition warfighters to operate in future contested and degraded air-land environments.

"Green Flag gives us the chance to participate in a realistic air-to-ground war training environment, replicating exactly what we are doing in Afghanistan," said Capt. Christopher Pace, 9th Bomb Squadron department of weapons. "Close-air-support is a large part of today's current mission set in the area of responsibility, and exercises like these give us the opportunity to refine our skills prior to going downrange."

In addition to traditional CAS training, B-1 aircrews were also afforded the opportunity to train in a contested, degraded and operationally constrained environments. CDOL environments can include jammed global positioning satellite climates, limited flight paths and technologically advanced foes.

"This was the first year that we trained in a CDOL constrained environment while at Green Flag," Pace said. "It's not something we typically do, but because Afghanistan is drawing down and our focus is shifting to the Pacific, being able to operate in these types of environments is becoming an increasingly crucial skill-set to have for future conflicts."

Dyess aircrews were also able to use their latest targeting upgrade, the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement modification. Sniper pods in the new ATP-SE configuration provide a enhanced sensors, a two-way data link, advanced processors and automated non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance modes.

Currently, the 9th BS is the only operational squadron flying the new targeting pod and will be the first to use it in theater.

Operational training in a CDOL environment and employing the aircraft's latest targeting pod were notable accomplishments, though Pace mentioned that the biggest take-away from the Green Flag exercise was the valuable experience gained by more than a dozen B-1 operators. These Airmen have yet to deploy.

"Exercises such as Green Flag are designed for newer aircrew members to get them spun up on what they can expect in a deployed environment," he said. "For most of our younger guys, this was their first experience coordinating with Joint Terminal Attack Controllers on the ground and dropping an actual weapon via their instruction. You can't really quantify it, but the experienced gained by our newer guys will make them much more comfortable when they find themselves doing the exact same things in a deployed setting."

Pace also added that the cohesion and teamwork gained between ops and maintenance was a crucial stepping stone toward future deployments.

"For us, the team-building between ops and maintenance was outstanding, launching approximately 37 sorties throughout the exercise without any major issues," he said. "In the end, the squadron achieved all of our objectives for Green Flag, and as a result we are better prepared to provide persistent and reliable combat airpower for the joint-fight."