TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Enter a world of the unexpected, the unimaginable, and one occasionally punctuated by terrorism-induced chaos.
Welcome to the world of Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) at Tyndall, where technology and imagination combine to present state-of-the-art training scenarios to operators supporting the Homeland Defense mission.
Using live, virtual and constructive assets, Air Forces Northern (AFNORTH) uses DMO to not only create, but interact with and intercept perceived aerial and ground threats.
AFNORTH is a "Total Force" organization with nearly 2,300 active-duty members, Guardmembers, Reservists, civilians and contractors.
Training scenarios can reflect wartime levels from tactical to operational up through strategic – such as a full-blown, multi-front, asymmetric wartime operations. And by using the technologically integrated environment, other geographically separated Homeland Defense agencies can participate as well.
"We can do live scenarios where there is a real warfighter in a real jet with a special pod attached to portal inputs into the simulated environment," said Steve Boe, AFNORTH's DMO program manager. "Then there is the constructive environment, where training inputs are computer generated."
The system operates through a complex and comprehensive series of interconnected, manned command, control, communications and computer equipment located around the country. This C4 equipment, along with associated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, enables participants to hone their skills in scenarios that, while they could happen, wouldn't be fiscally or environmentally feasible to conduct real world.
"DMO provides high-fidelity, high-quality, joint-service training without interfering with the real world Homeland Defense mission and it can replicate actual equipment and personnel deployments at a fraction of the cost," Boe said.
"What's really valuable too is the ability DMO provides operators to develop tactics, techniques and procedures in response to situations they might not otherwise have the opportunity to encounter," said Larry Christie, DMO operations planner. "DMO provides a limitless landscape to operate in and learn from for all."
Boe noted during one training exercise, participants included Air Force and Navy assets, Coast Guard helicopters, an Army ground-based air defense unit, and DoD civilians and contractors, all operating from their home stations. By bringing these units together in a 'virtual' environment, he said participants were afforded significant training benefits without significant fiscal impact.
Creating and orchestrating these exercises/training events requires a variety of skilled specialists. Boe said these include aerial and ground controllers, schedulers, planners, logisticians, network specialists and analysts. The majority of DMO at Tyndall occurs at the 601st Air and Space Operations Center and the AOC Mission Training Center.
"The importance of the DMO mission at Tyndall cannot be overstated," said Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow, AFNORTH commander. "To be able to simultaneously train for the mission and successfully execute it, real world, ensures our skills remain at peak levels."
Boe explained it's also important that DMO is not seen as "just another exercise," but rather as a tool set that enhances current exercise and training quality.
"One of the great advantages of DMO is that the scenario is not purely scripted – there are other operators in the loop, participating and reacting in real time that give valuable realism which other simulations lack," said Maj. Kimberly McGavern, of the South Carolina National Guard's 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command. "From the perspective of a ground-based air defense system, it's very interesting to see aircraft – other operators participating from another location in real time – flying and reacting to the scenario, instead of static, pre-scripted tracks."
While at this point the system is interoperable with other agencies in the United States on a limited basis, Boe said the vision for the future is plotted on a much larger scale.
"We have to remain proactive and keep moving forward," he said. "Within a few years, we want to have total integration of every aspect involved – every joint organization, agency, network, C4ISR equipment and simulator involved with the Homeland Defense mission – to continue to achieve even higher levels of high-fidelity, realistic training."