08/28/2015: 5th FLEET AOR (July 7, 2015) U.S. Navy Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) conduct night flight operations.
The ship is seen deployed to the 5th Fleet area of operations conducting maritime security operations.
Credit:Navy Media Content Services:7/7/15
08/26/2015: A helicopter rescue crew from Air Station Cape Cod in Bourne, Mass., trained with the Canadian navy Aug. 24, 2015, in Cape Cod Bay.
An aviation survival technician and a public affairs specialist were lowered onto the Canadian Warship HMCS Summerside for a mock medical evacuation.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Mario Estevane entered the ship where the “patient” was strapped to a gurney.
Estevane explained in a real-word medevac he would do his own assessment of the patient and there would be a Coast Guard corpsman onboard for medical support once the patient was aboard the helicopter.
Estevane explained ways to secure a patient and various hoisting techniques employed to get people off of a ship and into our aircraft.
The MH-60 crew piloted the helicopter over the Summerside and lowered a basket.
The Canadian crew watched as Estevane loaded the Coast Guard photographer inside the basket who was hoisted into the helicopter.
After a quick presentation of Summerside hats and a plaque from the warship by the Captain, Estevane connected himself to the hoist hook and was lifted into the helicopter.
Credit: USCG District 1:8/24/15
08/27/2015: HMAS Perth docked at the Australian Marine Complex Common User Facility at Henderson in Western Australia on 11 August 2015 to commence Intermediate Maintenance Availability (IMAV) 06.
The docking is required to conduct maintenance on the ship’s underwater fittings and fixtures.
Whilst in the dock, over 500 individual maintenance tasks will be completed.
A team of Anzac Systems Program Office personnel have been working closely with contractors from Naval Ship Management Australia and other key industry players for several months preparing the work package for the docking and the docking evolution itself.
Credit: Australian Ministry of Defence:8/21/15
HMAS Perth is the core frigate for the Australian Navy which is enabled by one of the best frigate radars in the world.
According to a story published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2014:
Most modern radars really do work like the ones in the movies: they spin around, creating the familiar green line moving around a circle like a clock hand in fast-forward.
The problem with such radar for self-defence systems – shooting down incoming missiles – is the system can only check a particular direction every few seconds as the radar swings around.
With the fearsome weaponry carried on modern warships, every second counts in a fight – future sea battles might not last very long.
In the backstreets of Fyshwick, the light-industrial suburb of Canberra reputed for its brothels and adult entertainment shops, an Australian-owned firm has created a technology that is already giving the Royal Australian Navy that few-second edge.
One of the Navy’s Anzac-class frigates, the HMAS Perth, has already been fitted out with the CEA Technologies-built ”phased array radar”, the eyes and ears of the ship’s self-defences.
The HMAS Perth is arguably now the most advanced warship of its kind in the world, able to shoot down incoming missiles skimming the sea surface at supersonic speeds with unrivalled consistency.
With interest now coming from the US, Canada and Spain, among other countries, the radar system could bring Australia more than $1 billion in exports in coming years, the firm says.
Defence Minister David Johnston, an irrepressible enthusiast for the technology, hosted a briefing Thursday night at the Australian Defence Force Academy to plug the system to potential buyers.
It is one of those ideas that sounds obvious in retrospect: phased array panels, arranged hexagonally, watching all directions at once. There is no five-second delay while the radar swings around for a second or third look.
”This is a game-changer. It’s not just world-leading, it’s world-beating,” said RAN Commodore Stuart Mayer, the chief of staff at Navy Headquarters.
08/25/2015: U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Southern Command boarding CH-53 Super Stallion at the flight line on Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, July 8, 2015.
SPMAGTF-SC is a temporary deployment of Marines and Sailors throughout Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize with a focus on building and maintaining partnership capacity with each country through shared values, challenges and responsibility.
Credit:U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South: 7/8/15
08/25/2015: 8/11/2015 – EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — RED FLAG-Alaska 15-3, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored, Joint National Training Capability accredited exercise officially started here Aug. 6.
Originally called COPE THUNDER, the exercise moved to Eielson in 1992 from Clark Air Base, Philippines, after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991. COPE THUNDER was re-designated RED FLAG-Alaska in 2006.
“Our primary mission is to expose pilots to real-life stressors they will experience in the first eight to 10 combat sorties.” said Maj. Derrick Vincent, the 353rd Combat Training Squadron director of operations. “We have historically seen most combat losses from our side of the house occur during the first 10 combat sorties.”
On average, more than 1,000 personnel and up to 60 aircraft deploy to Eielson, and an additional 500 people and 40 aircraft deploy to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, for each RF-A exercise.
Participants are organized into “Red” aggressor forces and “Blue” coalition forces. “White” forces represent the neutral controlling agency. The Red force includes air-to-air fighters, ground-control intercept, and surface air defense forces to simulate threats posed by potentially hostile nations.
All RF-A exercises take place in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex with a total operating area of more than 67,000 square miles, roughly five times the size of the airspace available at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
“Our RED FLAG exercise is different than Nellis’ mostly due to terrain and space available,” Vincent said.
That unique terrain, coupled with the vast airspace, also allows the U.S. Army to train its units in a variety of different environments while they participate in RF-A.
“We’re dropping over 600 paratroopers into a drop zone,” Vincent said. “That’s one of the largest [airdrops] we’ve ever done.”
The paratroopers will depart from JBER, jump into their drop zone, seize an enemy airfield, and set it up to begin receiving coalition aircraft.
“We want to capture that airfield so we can use it later on and bring C-17s, C-5s, and eventually A-10s, F-16s, and F-18s in,” Vincent said. “That’s just one day; every day is a little bit different.”
During the two-week employment phase of the exercise, aircrews are subjected to every conceivable combat threat. At the height of the exercise, up to 70 fighter aircraft can operate in the same airspace at one time.
Aircrews aren’t the only ones who benefit from the RF-A experience. The exercises provide an operations training environment for participants such as unit-level intelligence specialists, maintenance crews and command and control elements.
The 354th Civil Engineer Squadron helps out on the range and the 354th Logistics Readiness Squadron processes the cargo. The 353rd CTS can’t do anything without finance, military personnel, maintenance, and other support elements, Vincent said.
By providing generic scenarios using common worldwide threats and simulated combat conditions, RED FLAG-Alaska gives every participant an opportunity to make the tough calls often required in combat.
Another benefit of hosting RF-A at Eielson is the number of allied nations that can reach the training location conveniently.
“It’s important to build relations with our coalition forces and strengthen them,” Vincent said. “On a tactical level we are trying to make the warfighter better, and operationally, we are trying to make those relationships stronger.”
This free exchange of ideas between forces enhances not just those relationships, but also their operational efficiency.
“We’re mission planning together, we’re briefing and debriefing together, and we’re executing what we could potentially do in a crisis,” Vincent explained. “It’s all about building partnerships that will last. When that crisis does happen and we are called upon to act, we know each other, we know their tactics, and we can execute a smart plan to destroy the enemy and meet the commander’s intent.
http://www.eielson.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123455704
Credit Video: 354th Fighter Wing:8/18/15
08/25/2015: 2015- U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral Scott Swift serves as its 35th commander since the Fleet was established since February 1941 and is headquartered at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Credit:DoD News:8/20/15
For our series on MARFORPAC and PACFLEET, see the following:
https://sldinfo.com/the-key-role-of-military-sealift-command-in-the-pacific-an-update-from-hawaii/
https://sldinfo.com/shaping-a-21st-century-pacific-force-perspectives-from-pacfleet/
Also, see,
08/23/2015:INDIAN OCEAN (June 26, 2015) Sailors from Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) receive stores from Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7) during a replenishment at sea (RAS).
Essex, part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and with the embarked 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU), is seen deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.
In the remaining photos, an AS-322 Super Puma helicopter, from Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7), lifts cargo from the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) during a replenishment at-sea.
Credit:USS Essex-LHD 2: 6/26/15
08/20/2015: Harrier take off aboard U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard in the Philippine Sea.
Credit: USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6):6/16/15