Troops keep pilots on guard over the Gunfighter range

  • Published
  • By Airman Samantha S. DeVries
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho --  Keep them guessing, keep them on their guard, keep them nervous ...

For the men and women of the Air National Guard's 266th Range Squadron, this ideology drives them to hone the combat instincts of pilots and aircrews stationed at Mountain Home as well as those deployed in the fight against global terrorism. It's the range squadron's duty to keep these warriors at peek combat readiness.

The range squadron concept grew out of lessons learned during the Vietnam War. The United States sustained increasingly high numbers of lost aircraft and aircrews due to lack of training to deal with Soviet-built, anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles, according to range squadron leaders. It drove the need for the Air Force to conduct proper training against various air defenses.

The unit operates 24 threat emitters with six to eight normally used each day. The emitters simulate more than 50 different scenarios that aircrews may face while deployed.

The 266th RANS provides year-round electronic combat range capability at the Mountain Home Range Complex in southern Idaho along with deployed locations throughout the western United States, Canada and overseas.

Most training happens at Saylor Creek Range, which includes more than 109,000 total acres with almost 13,000 acres dedicated to weapons drops, making it the largest of the air-to-ground training ranges.

Pilots also train over Juniper Butte Range -- an air-to-ground training range with more than 12,000 acres. The range features realistic-looking targets in a 662-acre, fenced-off area at the center of the range. The training site also includes two simulated surface-to-air missile sites, a series of tanks and armored convoys and an industrial complex to familiarize pilots with the look and "feel" of the battlefield.

"The squadron is instrumental in training aircrews that frequently use the ranges to prepare them for situations they may face on deployments," according to Chief Master Sgt. Ed Porter, chief of the squadron's support flight.

Completed in September 2001, The entire Mountain Home Range Complex features enhanced aircrew training not found at other Air Force bombing ranges and includes five "no-drop" target complexes, 10 one-acre EC threat emitter sites and 20 smaller threat emitter sites.

Consisting of more than 9,600 square miles of airspace and training ranges, it is critical to the readiness of combat aircrews from the base, squadron officials added.

Aircrews here conduct more than 90 percent of flight training at MHRC along with crews from the Air Combat Command, Air National Guard, sister services and foreign allies who train regularly at the site, said squadron officials.

The 266th RANS is the largest operational squadron of its kind within the Air National Guard and Air Force.  Originally activated at Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field, Arizona, in 1974, the squadron moved to Mountain Home along with almost 70 people, 17 radars systems and 22 all-purpose vehicles.

After functioning as a staff agency under the headquarters squadron, it was granted its own squadron status in 1984. Following a few name changes, it became the 226th RANS as part of the Air National Guard in October 1997.

Though the name changed over the years, the mission didn't.

"Today, aircrews are well versed in a wide range of activities such as threat detection, warning, emitter avoidance and target acquisition," according to squadron officials. "It's designed to keep aircrews guessing, on their guard and nervous."