Electronic scenarios provide training for pilots

Published Oct. 28, 2009
By 2nd Lt. Emily Chilson
20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- It may be hard to tell at a glance, but there's much more to Poinsett Electronic Combat Range than bombing and gunnery targets.

The electronic combat section, operated by personnel under a U.S. Air Force contract, provides critical training not only to Shaw's F-16 pilots, but also to other Air Force, Air National Guard and Marine Corps pilots flying F-15E Strike Eagles, F/A-18 Hornets and AC-130H Spectres.

From PECR, contractors control and operate remote transmitters across the region, placed in remote, unpopulated areas and farmland in the airspace near Shaw, as well as in the airspace near Fort Gordon, Ga.

These transmitters are technically known as multiple-threat emitter systems, or MUTEs, and are used for threat-recognition training.

"We can simulate any NATO threat," said Jeff Stanfield, electronic combat deputy site manager. "It takes a lot of years to learn to maintain the MUTES, but you could learn to operate one in an hour."

The MUTES act kind of like remote surface-to-air missile sites, he said. Sometimes we'll fire smoky SAMs at aircraft so it's even more realistic.

From a pilot's perspective, the entire training mission is planned around the type of threat the combat range is simulating, and the challenges that threat presents.

"Generally, we will build a scenario that would replicate the required support of a notional strike package as it attempts to strike a predetermined target," said Lt. Col. Daniel Buschor, a traditional Reserve F-16 pilot with the 307th Fighter Squadron, Det. 1, attached to the 77th Fighter Squadron "Gamblers."

"The notional battlefield would include a threat layout similar to what we would expect to see in some of our areas of responsibility down range; everything from the number and types of SAMs to the experience level of the operators.

"This is where the MUTES come into play. We position them or overlay our scenario on their current positions and then provide the operators with a script that would simulate the skill level of a potential enemy."

A mission control group serves as the communicator or liaison between the MUTES operators and the pilots. The MUTES have the capability to simulate many different kinds of surface-to-air missiles.

"We practice engaging SA-2s, SA-3s, SA-6s and SA-8s, to name a few," Colonel Buschor said. "The MUTES provide realistic training since they engage us also. Our on-board systems react to and display them as if they were the real deal."

According to Colonel Buschor, pilots build a threat scenario prior to their flight that includes strategic SAMs, which are fixed sites that normally don't move, and tactical SAMs, which are mobile. Intelligence Airmen then build and brief these scenarios providing realistic intelligence capabilities.

Depending on if it would be likely for intelligence Airmen to identify and fix a particular SAM location, the threat may or may not be identified, which ultimately gives pilots the opportunity to practice threat recognition.

"Mobile SAM locations are generally not known," he explained. "We simulate this while flying through a trusted agent that would position the MUTES. The pilots would then use their systems to identify and locate the SAM and report it back to intelligence.

"The training is very realistic except the MUTES don't actually fire live weapons at us like the bad guys," Colonel Buschor said. "The quality of training they afford is unmatched anywhere else in the world with the exception of a few dedicated electronic combat ranges like Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and Red Flag exercises. To have this capability in our "backyard" is truly an Air Force gem that puts Shaw at the top of the combat-capable pyramid."