Vanguard exercise comes to a close

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeff Hamm
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England (USAFENS) --  An exercise that was the result of an Air Force-level initiative to reinvigorate working relationships between the United States and United Kingdom militaries finishes up here April 29 after nearly three weeks of activity over British skies.

The Vanguard exercise, a deployment exercise for the 81st Fighter Squadron from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany , provided the umbrella under which Fast Moving, a close-air support exercise, and Wycome Warrior, a combat search and rescue exercise, took place. These shorter, more specialized exercises brought together U.S. Air Forces in Europe assets such as the 492nd Fighter Squadron, the 81st FS, and the 56th Rescue Squadron from Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, as well as a host of Royal Air Force and Royal Army units.

The exercise, coordinated by 3rd Air Force at RAF Mildenhall, allowed units to travel the comparatively short distance to England in order to receive training they wouldn’t normally be able to complete in their host nations due to issues like airspace restrictions and gunnery range limitations. For instance, the 81st FS would normally deploy to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, to realize the same kind of training they accomplished here during Vanguard.

“Overall, it’s been a great deployment with a lot of good training for the pilots,” said Lt. Col. John Cherrey, 81st Fighter Squadron commander. “The composite and joint-force close air support and combat search and rescue training is extremely work-intensive to put together, so when we can get a higher headquarters exercise to get the training, it not only gives us more time to focus on the flying aspect, but also we tend to have access to more realistic assets such as tankers, helicopters and range time.”

During the Fast Moving portion of Vanguard, the 81st and the 492nd Fighter Squadrons provided close air support to an RAF special air service regiment tracking through the Welsh countryside; this group will be on the ground in Afghanistan soon and the training scenario mirrored their real-world mission. During the Wycome Warrior part of the exercise, the 81st provided cover while HH60-Pavehawk crews worked to extricate friendly forces on the ground.

“We received some training we can’t duplicate anywhere else,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Sexton, 56th RQS commander, referring to the air-to-ground gunnery his crewmembers were able to practice at ranges in Britain. “We will definitely come back.”

For all groups involved, the exercises provided training in the types of cooperation and situations they would likely face in real-world combat situations.

“It’s something we have to keep practicing because it’s so difficult. If we have fighters there, it’s a pretty high-threat environment,” Colonel Sexton said. “If we’re performing a rescue, we’re on top of the person before he’s been authenticated as a genuine rescue or as an enemy that could possibly be leading us into [an ambush]. That’s the criticality of having the A-10s or the F-15s there to support us.”

While the use of British ranges was a welcome novelty for the two visiting unit, this type of close air support training is common for the F-15E aircrews stationed here, according to Capt. Kurt Helphinstine, 492nd FS.

“It was pretty much a standard (close air support) exercise for us,” he said. “It’s a good simulation for what we expect to do in the real world in the future; it’s our primary mission in the Middle East (area of responsibility.)

While both the 81st FS and 56th RQS commanders said they received invaluable live-fire training on England’s ranges, as well as a rare opportunity to work together, the Colonel Cherrey pointed out another benefit of Vanguard – an actual deployment to train squadron members for upcoming air and space expeditionary force rotations.

“In today’s Air Force, deployed operations are where a fighter squadron makes its money. We’ve given deployment experience to many of our new folks that were not with us when we deployed to Afghanistan,” he said. “Although not the same scope and distance, many of the issues we face getting out of town for a small exercise are the same as our AEF deployments. Deploying to a fully functioning base such as (RAF) Lakenheath is also a lot more forgiving should folks forget to bring the correct equipment.”