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ATLANTIC CITY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.J. - German armed forces
Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) trained with JTACs from
the 227th Air Support Operations Squadron (ASOS) at the Warren Grove
Bombing Range and at the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air
National Guard on Feb. 25, 2016. The five day combined training
event included familiarization briefs, hands-on Combat Air Support
(CAS) controlling and simulations.
The differences in the way
American JTACs train was readily seen by the Germans. “It's
incredible that you have all of the JTACS pooled in one position,
you have a fighter wing right next to it, and you have a simulator
indoors, right around the corner. It's all nice and compact,” said
2nd Lt. Michael Barthel, German JTAC from the 26th Airborne Regiment
in Zweibr�cken, Germany.
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U.S. Air Force Maj. Benjamin Robbins, center, F-16 fighter pilot with the New Jersey Air National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing, explains F-16C Fighting Falcon aerodynamics to German armed forces joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) participating in a five day combined training exercise with the 227th Air Support Operations Squadron (ASOS) at the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base, N.J., on Feb. 26, 2016. The German JTACs, from the 5th unit of the 131st Artillery Battalion in Weiden and the 26th Airborne Regiment in Zweibr�cken, Germany, trained with JTACs from the 227th ASOS in close air support at Warren Grove Bombing Range in Ocean County, N.J. and also trained in the 227th's state of the art simulator. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Andrew J. Moseley)
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Fluent in English, the international language of aviation, the
German JTACs appreciated being able to meet and brief with F-16
fighter pilots from the 177th FW prior to training.
“Training
assets are more spread out over the country of Germany, which makes
it more difficult to work on the Combat Air Support sequence from
start to finish,” said Barthel. “We
know the pilots are going to show up at some point overhead of the
training area, but actually meeting with them face to face is really
hard because they'll be taking off somewhere in the north of Germany
and we practice in the south. You might get a phone call....that's
what amazes me.”
The German JTACs are part of their country's
army, including artillery and airborne units, unlike the U.S. JTACs,
who are part of the U.S. Air Force.
Master Sgt. Johannes
Pszolla, JTAC with the 131st Artillery Battalion in Weiden, Germany,
is stationed at Grafenwoehr Training Area and also commented on the
differences in training stating, “We often work with Apache
Helicopters from Spangdahlem, sometimes A-10s, but the play time
with the F-16 is not that much due to the transit time.”
The
American JTAC program has some similarities to the German army
JTACs. U.S. JTACs supplement the Army ground commander with a Joint
Fires Observer, an Army member who can do just about everything a
JTAC can do, such as passing nine line reports and lazing targets,
but doesn't have weapons release authority.
“Having our NATO
allies here, and when we go to train with them, is really good
because we want to standardize...we all want to be on the same page,
because that breaks down those barriers that we used to have, where,
even the Air Force and the Army on the U.S. side didn't talk to each
other,” said Lt. Col. Albert Danza, commander of the 227th ASOS.
“Now we're speaking to German, Dutch and British JTACs on the ground
and we have all different airframes from all over the world that you
could be flying with so it's good that we standardize and get all on
the same page.”
The five day combined training exercise
included an F-16 familiarization brief and training in the 227th's
new $1.2 million Air National Guard Advanced JTAC Training System.
“It's pretty nice to use the simulator with our own night vision
devices...there are huge possibilities,” said armed forces JTAC 1st
Lt. Tim Jantzen, with the 131st Artillery Battalion. “It seems
pretty realistic....maybe they could add more grass or bushes in the
distance, but it fulfills its purpose, absolutely. It was a great
experience.”
“The J in JTAC stands for Joint, so the thing we
focus on is being able to speak Air Force to the Army guys and
translate what the F-16 is saying to the Army ground commander,”
said Danza. “The JTAC can clear hot with final control authority,
something we think we're best suited to do.”
More photos available below
By U.S. Air National Guard Master Sgt. Andrew J. Moseley
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
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