RF-A brings joint training advances

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Janine Thibault
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Training alongside forces from other countries has multiple benefits including familiarity for future joint activities and knowledge of the systems being used.

Technological progression is a welcome trait especially in a group as advanced as the military; new advances in training are always welcome and encouraged, especially when it can be used to better equip our forces.

For RED FLAG-Alaska 10-3, the Italian Air Force brought a new system to the fight that will advance coalition forces capabilities.

Link 16 is a valuable tool used by pilots that visually orients them in relation to their position among friend or foe. It was tested two years ago in Italy and its use during this RF-A will be its first field test.

This technology gives pilots a 360 degree view from their seat in the cockpit of everybody around them.

"By having this capability your situational awareness is much higher," said Maj. Paolo Rubino, an Italian Air Force 154th squadron pilot. "Even if you're far away from the threat or turning away, your radar doesn't see in front of you but the image shows pilots what their buddies are doing. The pilots see not only other friendly aircraft but also the maneuvers of their enemies."

What makes this system even more advantageous is its ability to protect these images with an encryption called crypto keys. The location and actions of the other planes in the area can only be seen between partnered forces without allowing the enemy to exploit the images.

"Basically, you can experience a war without speaking - it's all on screen in a secure way. You get a lot of information that you normally don't have," said Maj. Nicola Scolari, an Italian Air Force 155th Squadron pilot.

Italian Air Force pilots have only been able to work with Link 16 among ITAF aircraft due to a difference in crypto keys.

Italian Tornado jets were not originally designed to have the Link 16 system. After it was incorporated it was found that the system used by Japanese Air Self Defense Forces was different from ITAFs system, however U.S. technology was compatible with both countries' forces.

During the final week of RF-A, the Italian Air Force will train alongside U.S. and JASDF pilots. However, to cope with the differences between their systems, the two international forces will alternate using Link 16 with U.S. Air Force pilots.

"We're anxious to see it work and see F-15s and F-16s on our scope," said Major Rubino. "Red Flag is one of the few exercises with lots of airplanes so it would be nice to see, especially since this is the first time, on the jet what's going on. It is important to get better and thorough training people can improve, training with international forces widens your thoughts and your way of seeing things and can improve our techniques, tactics and procedures. "

Major Scolari added, "In a real world environment we do things for real together so if we train together and then we can improve ourselves over there in the real world. We need to understand each other's bad habits and we can grow up together and improve each other."

Educating their fellow servicemembers will not stop once they leave RF-A.

"If a member of our team did not get training over here, we can teach them what we learned and increase everybody's skill," said Major Rubino. "We will go back to our nation and bring back the lessons and work on those to improve what we knew before."
Technology is always changing, and there are always new opportunities to engage in techniques and developments that will improve the mission.