http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...le-entry-drill
It's that time a year again! Air Mobility Command's airlifters have hit the
skies en masse under the cover of night to fly across the U.S. and into the vast
military training ranges in the American Southwest. The goal is to simulate
prying open the enemy's back door and setting up combat shop on their lawn as
part of an annual drill called Joint Forcible Entry Exercise (JFEX).
Our plane tracking friends started catching the peculiar streams of Air Force
cargo aircraft popping up on their flight tracking software earlier in the
evening. Within a short amount of time, it was clear that a major exercise was
underway and the timing is perfect for this iteration of JFEX.
At this same time last year, social media was flooded with videos of lights
filling up the night sky as strings of C-17s and C-130s crossed the U.S. on
their way primarily to the Nellis Test and Training Range (NTTR) in desolate
Southern Nevada. This unique large force employment exercise (LFE) is among the
most complex drills the USAF executes and it combines assets of all types,
including fighters, surveillance aircraft, electronic warfare platforms, and
throngs of ground troops and equipment that are dropped into or dropped off in
simulated enemy territory.
Here is a taste of JFEX action seen during a daylight portion of the exercise
from a few years back. The C-17s are working out of Keno Airstrip in the NTTR.
As you can see, it is one impressive display of airpower. Also, keep in mind
that there are so many other moving parts you don't see in the video. It is
literally the tip of the operational iceberg:
https://youtu.be/CwbXVKyweJY
Beyond being fantastic training for all involved, the exercise works as part of
the capstone project for the graduating class of the U.S. Air Force's
prestigious Weapons School. The soon to be minted Weapons Instructors (also
called 'Target Arms' in some flying communities) put all their new and old
knowledge to the test to successfully orchestrate what is among the most complex
aerial combat ballets on the planet. You can read all about this exercise and
how it fits into the Weapon's School's larger aims in this past article of ours.
In addition to tonight's mass migration of cargo haulers, the Nellis Test and
Training Range has been very active over the last week or so as the Weapons
School, which services all types of combat aircraft and their communities,
enters into the final phase of its curriculum. The full gamut of surveillance
aircraft, from RQ-4 Global Hawks to RC-135 Rivet Joints, have been tracked
flying orbits around the range complex as the Weapons Instructors put their
carefully evaluated war plans into motion.
JFEX has become far more relevant in recent years as the U.S. has started to
come to terms with the reality that winning an expeditionary fight against a
peer state competitor is an increasingly dubious challenge. Anti-access and
area-denial strategies have left the services scrambling to adapt to having to
fight an enemy over long distances and breaking open new avenues into their
increasingly expansive and fortified domain. Being able to use the Pentagon's
potent but limited airlift capacity to rapidly open up new bases of operation
and vectors of attack even at very austere and remote locales in becoming a key
tenet of future combat operations. This is exactly what JFEX is all about,
punching into contested territory over long distances by surprise and setting up
a foothold for expanded operations.
So if you look up in the sky tonight and see a long string of blinking lights,
no it's not Santa on a dry run, it's your U.S. Air Force practicing to make good
on its own naughty or nice list.
We will keep you update as more information and photos from this iteration of
JFEX emerge.
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