Tom Hunter
15 January 2001, 08:30
Dec. 18, 2000
COMBINED PLANNING OPERATION GIVES SPECIAL OPERATORS THE EDGE
By Tech. Sgt. Michael Farris
353rd Special Operations Group Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (Night Flyer News Service) -- If war were to break out in Korea, the 353rd Special Operations Group is ready to meet the challenge.
Forty members of the group, from Kadena Air Base, Japan, joined members of the U.S. Army’s E Company, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and Korea’s Special Warfare Command, here to diagram their critical participation in a potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Planners, flight crews and intelligence experts critiqued everything from flight routes and aircraft configuration to air refueling tracks and Army ground movements. This combined planning operation, held Dec. 1-12, was unique because the rotary-wing mission of this enormous operation will shift to the U.S. Army when the 353rd SOG's 31st Special Operations Squadron deactivates next year.
A large component of the 353rd SOG mission is high-priority, low-visibility infiltration, resupply and exfiltration of Special Operations Forces. Crews from each of the group's weapons systems (the MC-130H Combat Talon II, the MC-130P Combat Shadow and the MH-53J Pave Low III) along with representatives from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron, worked with their Korean counterparts and Korean Army Special Forces to create feasible mission designs.
Lt. Col. Ron Schwartz, 353rd Operations Support Squadron, served as mission commander.
"Battlefield scenarios can change from day-to-day, indeed from hour-to-hour," he said. "By necessity, our plans must be solid but retain some measure of flexibility. One of our biggest objectives here is to have a ‘mind meld’ between the flight crews and their customers. When all participants know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, packages will be built with greater integrity."
Planning joint operations among different services, a challenge inherent to all special operations, becomes very complicated in an environment involving forces from two countries and multiple services. Fortunately, according to the commander, both U.S. and Korean Special Operators from all services adapted well and remained open-minded.
Maj. Jim Smith is the chief of tactics and training for the 353rd OSS. According to him, the war plan is a fluid and constantly evolving blueprint.
"The group is required to create and maintain mission planning folders so when hostilities break out, we have on-the-shelf, go-to-war plans for the crews to fly," he said. "If crews were required to plan missions from scratch once a conflict erupted, chaos would result."
Each stage of the planning process takes into consideration air defenses and assets of the enemy. One tool used to develop missions is the Contingency Theater Air Planning System. CTAPS is a computer system that integrates command and control of all theater air assets.
"With our unique mission (flying low, slow and quiet) it’s important for us to let the good guys know where we are," said airspace manager Tech. Sgt. Dennis Brooks. "A main objective of CTAPS is to prevent fratricide. We’re keenly interested in hiding from the adversary, but equally concerned with letting friendly fighters know who we are."
The crews are concerned with more than reaching their targets and delivering the punch. Getting back is equally important.
Staff Sgt. Jim Kysar, instructs SOG flyers on surviving, evading, resisting and escaping. It’s his job to ensure crews are prepared to evade in the event their aircraft is downed.
"Contingency information in the plans must be accurate and useable to both the downed aircrew and potential rescue forces so a successful recovery can be executed," he said.
"We expend great effort toward planning for a conflict everyone hopes will never occur," Colonel Schwartz said. "But if summoned to fight, rest assured the 353rd SOG is well prepared to answer the call."
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COMBINED PLANNING OPERATION GIVES SPECIAL OPERATORS THE EDGE
By Tech. Sgt. Michael Farris
353rd Special Operations Group Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (Night Flyer News Service) -- If war were to break out in Korea, the 353rd Special Operations Group is ready to meet the challenge.
Forty members of the group, from Kadena Air Base, Japan, joined members of the U.S. Army’s E Company, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and Korea’s Special Warfare Command, here to diagram their critical participation in a potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Planners, flight crews and intelligence experts critiqued everything from flight routes and aircraft configuration to air refueling tracks and Army ground movements. This combined planning operation, held Dec. 1-12, was unique because the rotary-wing mission of this enormous operation will shift to the U.S. Army when the 353rd SOG's 31st Special Operations Squadron deactivates next year.
A large component of the 353rd SOG mission is high-priority, low-visibility infiltration, resupply and exfiltration of Special Operations Forces. Crews from each of the group's weapons systems (the MC-130H Combat Talon II, the MC-130P Combat Shadow and the MH-53J Pave Low III) along with representatives from the 320th Special Tactics Squadron, worked with their Korean counterparts and Korean Army Special Forces to create feasible mission designs.
Lt. Col. Ron Schwartz, 353rd Operations Support Squadron, served as mission commander.
"Battlefield scenarios can change from day-to-day, indeed from hour-to-hour," he said. "By necessity, our plans must be solid but retain some measure of flexibility. One of our biggest objectives here is to have a ‘mind meld’ between the flight crews and their customers. When all participants know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, packages will be built with greater integrity."
Planning joint operations among different services, a challenge inherent to all special operations, becomes very complicated in an environment involving forces from two countries and multiple services. Fortunately, according to the commander, both U.S. and Korean Special Operators from all services adapted well and remained open-minded.
Maj. Jim Smith is the chief of tactics and training for the 353rd OSS. According to him, the war plan is a fluid and constantly evolving blueprint.
"The group is required to create and maintain mission planning folders so when hostilities break out, we have on-the-shelf, go-to-war plans for the crews to fly," he said. "If crews were required to plan missions from scratch once a conflict erupted, chaos would result."
Each stage of the planning process takes into consideration air defenses and assets of the enemy. One tool used to develop missions is the Contingency Theater Air Planning System. CTAPS is a computer system that integrates command and control of all theater air assets.
"With our unique mission (flying low, slow and quiet) it’s important for us to let the good guys know where we are," said airspace manager Tech. Sgt. Dennis Brooks. "A main objective of CTAPS is to prevent fratricide. We’re keenly interested in hiding from the adversary, but equally concerned with letting friendly fighters know who we are."
The crews are concerned with more than reaching their targets and delivering the punch. Getting back is equally important.
Staff Sgt. Jim Kysar, instructs SOG flyers on surviving, evading, resisting and escaping. It’s his job to ensure crews are prepared to evade in the event their aircraft is downed.
"Contingency information in the plans must be accurate and useable to both the downed aircrew and potential rescue forces so a successful recovery can be executed," he said.
"We expend great effort toward planning for a conflict everyone hopes will never occur," Colonel Schwartz said. "But if summoned to fight, rest assured the 353rd SOG is well prepared to answer the call."
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