News Search

News

Valiant Shield wraps up

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Toni Kemper
  • 13 AF Public Affairs
Valiant Shield 2007, the largest exercise of its kind in the Pacific, wrapped up seven days of flying operations in the vicinity of Guam Monday. 

During the field training exercise, more than 30 air-refueling sorties were flown, with KC-135 and KC-10 tankers offloading 2.286 million pounds of fuel to airborne aircraft. U.S. Air Force B-52s, F-15Cs, F-16CJs, KC-135s and E-3 AWACS aircraft flew defensive counter air, electronic attack, suppression of enemy air defense, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling, air interdiction, and anti-surface warfare missions. Several Kadena units deployed to the exercise, including the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons, the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron and the 909th Air Refueling Squadron. 

During Valiant Shield, Maj. John Stratton, 18th Operations Support Squadron chief of weapons and tactics, described the exercise as extremely busy with very long days. 

"The 18th Wing's F-15s have been flying 32 counter-air sorties per day," he said. The 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron's E-3 AWACS have also been flying a number of command and control sorties." 

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

"In an exercise such as Valiant Shield, 13th AF, 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. Chip Utterback, Valiant Shield Joint Force Air Component Commander. 

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

"One of the most important aspects of this exercise is realistically testing the command and control architecture in a joint environment," said Major Stratton. "This is an extremely difficult scenario and it's very difficult to get the people communicating, by the appropriate means, at the appropriate time, and in the appropriate place." 

"The complexity level mixed with the scale of the field training exercise, along with the command and control, makes Valiant Shield unmatched." said General Utterback. "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." 

Exercise planning had to incorporate long flight times, long transit times for surface vessels, and integrate communications, the space element, and intelligence that provides war fighters the information necessary to create the desired effect on the battlefield.

For more on this story, visit the Kadena Air Base Web site at www.kadena.af.mil
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 terror, 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. Joint means bringing the capabilities and the competencies of highly-trained, specialized forces together to create a synergistic effect," said General Utterback. 

The training location is ideal for a large-scale exercise like Valiant Shield. There is open air space and open water, creating hundreds of miles of training area in each direction of the battle space. 

"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 AF to create the desired effect for the JTF commander," said General Utterback. 

Major Stratton praised the 44th Aircraft Maintenance Unit's work generating and repairing F-15s day and night during the exercise so pilots could "fly and test their skills in very realistic and difficult combat scenarios" as one of Valiant Shield's success stories. 

"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," said General Utterback. 
"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. 

Master Sgt. Jeffery Loftin, 18th Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this story.