White Rectangle

High Rollers fly with Navy, other services during Resolute Hunter Exercise

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Paula Macomber
  • 152nd Airlift Wing

The 192nd Airlift Squadron participated in Exercise Resolute Hunter at the Naval Air Station Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC) from Oct. 21 to 25. The Fallon Naval Air Station (NAS Fallon) and Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) are the Navy’s premier Weapon Tactics Instructor (WTI) schools and they’re located well within flying distance for the High Rollers out of Reno.

“This Range complex has some of the most advanced enemy threat emitters in the world,” said Maj. Kyle Carraher, a pilot with the 192nd Airlift Squadron, “and the training is as realistic as you can get. We want to bolster our relationship with the entities in Fallon so we can train smarter and more effectively. This is an extraordinary opportunity to support their objectives while meeting our internal training requirements.”

The Naval Air Station FRTC encompasses NAS Fallon and near-by range training areas, Bureau of Land Management rights-of-way, and 13,000 square miles of Special Use Airspace.

This exercise enhances the joint cooperation among many entities, not limited to the Air National Guard and the Navy.

“The relationship with NAS Fallon really benefits everyone connected to these airplanes on base. I say this because future operations rely on joint interoperability, and joint interoperability is only going to happen if we train together. The relationships we build result with the other branches of services increased ability to support the joint fight,” Carraher added.

The 192AS logged 25.3 flying hours, accomplished 614 training events, over 25 radar threat reactions and dropped four low cost low altitude (LCLA) bundles. They also flew three mission commander/lead upgrade rides, two pilot checkout course (PCO) upgrade flights and performed a one-time no-notice pilot mission check ride. In addition, they were able to execute a C-130H and C-130J interfly with the California Air National Guard (CAANG) out of Channel Islands, Calif.

“Channel Islands is our sister unit in the modular airborne fire fighting system (MAFFS) mission due to their close proximity in response to wildland fires,” said Carraher “We have a great working relationship with their unit, and C-130H and C-130J interfly is an invaluable skill to develop. The airframes share many similarities, but the intricacies of flying in formation is challenging.”

There were 4,500 people supporting the exercise with twelve different airframes.
The end result is building those joint relationships. “It really boils down to communication. Simple things like ‘short hand’ or ‘lingo’ between services does not always translate to clear communication, and this is exactly why we train together, so we can identify impediments to accomplishing the mission in training so we can execute the mission in the real world,” said Carraher.