GULFPORT, Miss. – Airmen from the Arkansas National Guard’s 188th Wing Operations Group strengthened their combat capabilities during Exercise Sentry South 26-2, a large-scale National Guard-led training event designed to enhance joint integration and readiness.
Featuring about 1,100 service members from active Guard and Reserve components, Sentry South brought together a diverse set of U.S. military units alongside international partners. The exercise provided the opportunity to build partnerships while maintaining combat readiness for future missions.
Sentry South, part of the National Guard Bureau’s Resilience Tactical Pause initiative, integrates Special Operations Forces, Combat Air Forces, Mobility Air Forces and Conventional Forces in realistic, cross-domain scenarios. The training emphasizes operating effectively in degraded or contested command-and-control environments.
For the 188th Wing Operations Group, the exercise provided a critical opportunity to demonstrate and refine the MQ-9A Reaper's capabilities in complex operational scenarios.
“Participation in Sentry South highlights our ability to deliver persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, along with dynamic strike capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Munoz, 188th Wing Operations Group commander. “Our Airmen are ensuring joint leadership maintains battlespace awareness before, during and after strike operations, which is essential for mission success.”
Members of the 188th Operations Support Squadron and the 184th Attack Squadron also played key roles in the exercise. Their responsibilities included mission planning, liaison officer support, maintenance logistics and coordination of takeoff and landing operations in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration requirements. Mission Control Element aircrews also provided direct support to National Guard forces preparing to deploy.
“Our teams are validating the MQ-9A’s role in major combat operations and its ability to support joint and combined forces against pacing threats,” Munoz said. “From mission planning to execution, every piece of this exercise reinforces how we contribute to the broader fight.”
The scale and integration of Sentry South provide a unique training environment not typically experienced in day-to-day MQ-9 operations.
“This exercise provides a critical opportunity to integrate with a diverse range of air and ground assets, simulating a combined force environment that is not routinely available to us,” said Maj. Nicholas Barron, an 188th Wing exercise participant. “It enables us to execute the majority of our Mission Essential Tasks and capture lessons learned that we can share across the group and the broader MQ-9 community to enhance our collective warfighting capabilities.”
Unlike routine operations, which often task MQ-9 units in a more disaggregated manner, Sentry South requires full integration into a cohesive force package. Airmen engaged in direct mission planning and execution with multiple air and ground elements, both virtually and in person, introducing dynamic variables not replicable in simulations.
“Sentry South immerses us in realistic operational scenarios that push us beyond our normal mission sets,” Barron said. “The live integration introduces unforeseen contingencies and forces us to expand our mission planning into unfamiliar operational domains, increasing our agility and preparing us for potential near peer conflicts.”
This marks the third time the 188th Wing Operations Group has participated in Sentry South, and the first year Arkansas has taken the lead in planning and liaison officer roles while hosting flying operations from home station.
“This exercise gives us the platform to demonstrate how quickly we can shift between diverse mission sets with minimal delay,” Barron said. “Operating in a large-scale, integrated force environment allows us to showcase the unique capabilities of the MQ-9 to a broader joint audience and solidify the 188th Operations Group’s role in global air and space missions.”