NORTHERN
EDGE is Alaskan Command’s largest annual joint training exercise.
U.S. Army paratroopers play the role of opposing forces during NORTHERN
EDGE 2001.
PHOTO BY SSGT. VINCE PARKER, USAF
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As the mercury hovered around (and sometimes dropped below) zero degrees Fahrenheit, Exercise NORTHERN EDGE, Alaskan Command’s largest annual joint training exercise, staged realistic scenarios at half-a-dozen locations around the state of Alaska, 19-30 March 2001. |
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During
the month of March, Alaska turns into a beehive of military activity
due to NORTHERN EDGE, which began in 1975 as Operation JACK FROST. This
year’s exercise involved roughly 10,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors,
Marines, airmen and Coast Guardsmen. About 160 Canadian Regular Force
and Reserve sailors, plus soldiers from Land Forces Western Area, augmented
the U.S. participants for harbor defense and maritime operations exercises.
NORTHERN EDGE incorporates theater missile defense, force protection, air-to-air fighter aircraft engagements, joint live-fire exercises, airborne jumps and air assaults, and combat search-and-rescue operations. Major air and ground maneuvers took place in the interior of the state at Eielson Air Force Base and in training areas southeast of Fairbanks, with supporting missions also launching from Elmendorf Air Force Base at Anchorage. An estimated 850 aircraft missions – also known as sorties – were flown during the two weeks of the exercise.
NORTHERN EDGE incorporates theater missile defense, force protection, air-to-air fighter aircraft engagements, joint live-fire exercises, airborne jumps and air assaults, and combat search-and-rescue operations. Major air and ground maneuvers took place in the interior of the state at Eielson Air Force Base and in training areas southeast of Fairbanks, with supporting missions also launching from Elmendorf Air Force Base at Anchorage. An estimated 850 aircraft missions – also known as sorties – were flown during the two weeks of the exercise.
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