Airmen from the 23rd and 347th Operations Support Squadrons at Moody AFB, Ga., led a search and rescue interoperability exercise involving 1,500 participants at Tyndall AFB, Fla., from Nov. 1-4. The exercise included HC-130J Combat King IIs, HH-60G Pave Hawks, C-17s, A-10Cs, and E-8C JSTARS, according to a press release. The training scenario allowed rescue, maintenance, intelligence, and support airmen to practice coordination of effort in a combat rescue situation from a simulated “mobile rescue operations center” of the kind that would support a forward operating base. Specific capabilities tested were “helicopter air refueling, airdrop, infiltration, exfiltration, landing on blacked out runways, and non-traditional surveillance,” according to the release.
The Space Force’s small size has limited its capacity to consider what role it will play in future operations on and around the moon. That needs to change, according to Vice Chief of Operations Gen. Shawn Bratton.
