Conclusion
Alaska’s enormous land area, extensive coastline, and diverse weather conditions, which can range from bright and sunny to a snowstorm in the same day, provided excellent training opportunities for participating service members. The realistic scenarios left no doubt that U.S. service members not only operate efficiently in a joint environment but also work well with federal, state, and local agencies.
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AMALGAM CHIEF
By SSgt. Connie L. Bias, USAF
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AMALGAM CHIEF, a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Region exercise coordinated with NORTHERN EDGE 2003, concentrated on the air defense portion of NORTHERN EDGE. AMALGAM CHIEF is a bilateral exercise run by Canada and the United States that links military and civilian forces from both nations as combined national security assets. AMALGAM CHIEF integrated representatives from multiple U.S. services. This year’s exercise participants responded to a simulated stolen military aircraft flying over Alaskan airspace.
“This is the aftermath of the realities of 9-11,” said U.S. Air Force (USAF) Col. Jerry Siegel. “Pre-9-11, when aircraft were hijacked, the assumption was we would negotiate with the hijackers, assuming the hijacker did not want to kill himself and everybody aboard.”
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Lt. Gen. Howie Chandler, USAF Commander, Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and Eleventh Air Force, commended exercise participants for improving homeland defense capabilities.
Photo by Spec. James Wyllie, USA |
That assumption proved erroneous when terrorist used airplanes as weapons over U.S. soil on 11 September 2001. Now, U.S. and Canadian military planners have a new job – to prepare exercise scenarios that place in Canada and the U.S. in the attack zone.
“You can’t be too careful; you can’t be too cautious,” said USAF TSgt. Yvette Thompson, who helped prepare the AMALGAM CHIEF scenario. “I would never have thought I’d build an exercise in which my capital was being attacked,” she said, adding that now the scenarios she builds always include one of the 50 U.S. states.
Exercises such as AMALGAM CHIEF use a long list of base assets. Aircraft from the USAF 19th Fighter Squadron flew over Valdez, Alaska, as exercise players. Representatives from the Office of Special Investigations, Alaskan Command, and the U.S. Army’s Fort Richardson’s Rescue Coordination Center also participated in AMALGAM CHIEF. There was also increased coordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other civilian organizations. The FAA practiced clearing airspace for military jets in this exercise. “This is not a military combat zone; the FAA owns all the airspace, so we are assisting them,” said USAF Col. Siegel. “There has always been coordination (with civilian agencies), but I’d say that the civilian authorities now have a better understanding of what we do.”
“The procedures are very, very conservative,” stressed Col. Siegel. Final actions are decided by the Commander of NORAD, Gen. Ralph Eberhart, USAF, or by the Deputy U.S. Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz.
When the NORAD battle staff forms, a non-stop surge of details passes from the pilots to the battle staff, the FAA operations center, the USAF’s Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and a host of other players spanning the country.
“Worst case scenario, if this is somebody truly meaning to do us harm, it’s up to the Alaskan NORAD Region to get as much information as possible to the [person] making the final decision,” said USAF TSgt. Thompson. “From the airman who first detected the aircraft to the person who talks to the FAA, to the guys controlling the mission . . . all have to have accurate information as fast as possible.”
“I was very pleased,” said Col. Siegel to AMALGAM CHIEF participants at the conclusion of the exercise. “I felt I always had the information I needed in plenty of time to assist our nation’s leadership in making a timely decision to engage the simulated terrorist target.
SSgt. Connie L. Bias, USAF, is assigned to 3rd Wing Public Affairs, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. |
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