DECEMBER 8, 2022 – Airmen from the 505th Combat Training Squadron and 505th Communications Squadron simultaneously provided realistic operational environments for a Joint Chiefs of Staff-sponsored exercise and two U.S. Army exercises supporting the training of operational command and control warfighters from Hurlburt Field, Florida, Oct. 31 – Nov. 14.
“The 505th CTS and 505th CS’s success in providing support to joint events points to an increasing demand for their participation, and the importance of their upcoming opening of the Joint Training and Operations Center to boost space available for support,” said Lt. Col. Aaron Sick, 505th Combat Training Group deputy commander, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
The 505th CTS’s operations floor, also known as the Mezzanine, was the 505th Command and Control Wing’s support hub for Army exercise Warfighter 23-2, Army experiment Project Convergence 22 and the JCS’s exercise Internal Look 23.
Internal Look is a biennial JCS-sponsored, U.S. Central Command coordinated, Command Post exercise designed to exercise the C2 and communications ability of USCENTCOM Headquarters and its component commands which are spread throughout its area of responsibility. Internal Look tests and exercises CENTCOM’s ability to communicate on the modern battlefield while allowing Third Army to execute its deputy Joint Land Forces Command responsibilities.
Throughout exercise IL 23, a team of U.S. Airmen at Hurlburt Field provided synthetic battle spaces using models and simulation tools including a high-fidelity constructive air model, Nov. 7 – 11.
“Exercise Internal Look places military decision-makers in a realistic wargame to effectively plan to counter threats across the Middle East, and the contributions of the 505th Command and Control Wing are pivotal to a successful exercise,” said Lt. Col. Michael Power, 505th CTS director of operations, Hurlburt Field, Florida.
The Army’s immersive 10-day Warfighter exercise 23-2 combined the simulation of major military operations, joint forcible entry operations — air and maritime-based incursions — and large-scale ground-based combat operations.
During WFX 23-2, a team of U.S. Airmen provided Air Operations Center replication from Nov. 4 – 14 at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The 505th CCW team represented full spectrum air component replication to the Army training audience in a U.S. European Command scenario, which included Third Army and 40th Infantry Divisions.
Project Convergence is a joint force experimentation leveraging a series of joint, multi-domain engagements to integrate artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomy to improve battlefield situational awareness, connect sensors with shooters, and accelerate the decision-making timeline which informs the Joint All Domain Command and Control and Joint Warfighting Concepts.
A combined U.S. Air Force team from the 505th CTS and 505th CS provided Air Operations Center replication and a high-fidelity constructive air model during Project Convergence 22 from Oct. 31 through Nov. 11. These roles enabled Project Convergence to experiment with emerging capabilities as part of the joint force to achieve overmatch against peer adversaries and accelerate the decision-making timeline.
The execution of three simultaneous exercises from a single operation’s floor not only highlights the high demand for the expertise of 505 CCW personnel, but also the limited exercise space available on campus. For every supported event, the members of the 505th Combat Training Squadron and 505th Communications Squadron must reconfigure both the systems and floorplan to meet exercise requirements.
“The 505th Combat Training Squadron and 505th Communications Squadron continue to provide exceptional operational training environments in a resource-constrained environment but as the Combatant Commands, sister services, and Air Force increase demands for our realistic operational environments, we will inevitably need to increase capacity to support,” said Power.
As exercise support requests continue to increase, the 505th CCW is postured to increase support capacity with the renovation of building 90063, known as the JTOC, which has been undergoing renovations since August 2021, and will soon begin executing 505th CTS operations once again. When the JTOC becomes operational in 2023, it will double the 505th CTS’s exercise support operations available space.
Deb Henley
505th Command and Control Wing
Public Affairs