JPARC provides RF-A participants with vast range of training

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Yash Rojas
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  In an area roughly the size of Kansas, the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex provides RED FLAG-Alaska participants ample airspace to sharpen their combat aviation skills.

The 36th Fighter Squadron at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, trains Airmen regularly for potential threats, so they are, according to their motto, "ready to fight tonight." To meet training needs, the 36th FS takes advantage of the opportunity, and the airspace, the JPARC offers.

"The exercise is catered to many of our primary missions," said Lt. Col. John Seuell, 36th FS commander. "Pilots face robust surface-to-air missile threat arrays and dedicated aggressors who replicate sophisticated enemy tactics, while still employing the weapons we deploy whether we're operating in Korea or anywhere else in the Pacific. The training is just as good as or better than anything we could actually get at home-station."

RED FLAG-Alaska's premier flying range provides the 36th FS with an opportunity to train using live ammunitions and engage with a range of simulated threats in the JPARC. The two-week exercise helps reach training goals, such as mission qualification training necessary for meeting primary mission objectives.

"It's one of the most amazing military training ranges on the planet," he added.

During RF-A 11-2, the 36th FS took advantage of operating in the JPARC, a military training range measuring more than 67,000 square mile, and learned invaluable lessons in a war fighting simulation. The training and experience pilots have obtained in Alaska can be taken back to home station to help bring other areas of weakness up to speed.

According to Capt. James Nicholas, 36th FS pilot, flying within a training range of this magnitude helps pilots benefit from realistic combat simulations similar to those they would find in a real-world conflict. A training sortie can place pilots more than 80 miles apart in comparison to the congested airspace restricting the 36th FS training at home station, giving them an experience resembling real combat and real airspace.

"Pilots actually get to see a realistic representation of a possible combat scenario that is much more realistic as a result of available airspace," said Captain Nicholas. "In a range of this size you can extend pilots in a large area of engagement and give Airmen dimensions to what may only have been a mental picture."

As a result, pilots return home knowledgeable in the latest enemy threats and with a sense of their capabilities along with that of their aircraft.

"We are forced to open our eyes and learn; bottom-line we all walk away with well-trained Airmen and pilots," said Colonel Seuell.