McConnell supports largest U.S., Israel exercise

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Thornbury
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Joint U.S. military personnel, including members of 22nd Air Refueling Wing, teamed up with Israel Defense Forces in a U.S. European Command exercise known as Juniper Cobra 16, which ran from Feb. 22 to March 3.

Every other year, EUCOM sends a joint task force to collaborate with its Israeli ally to train together for a combined ballistic missile defense.

"The two nations [had the] opportunity to practice execution of both existing and developing operational plans in a controlled and permissive environment," said Col. Phil Heseltine, 22nd Air Refueling Wing vice commander and Director of Mobility Forces for the exercise. "This exercise is vital in the event Israel is attacked, and our nations are called upon to defend Israel."

As the JTF DIRMOBFOR, Heseltine was responsible for coordinating all aspects of mobility support, as well as daily advice and coordination with all U.S. military and interagency units across the joint operating area and JTF Israel Commander, Lt. Gen. Timothy Ray.

"We were in daily contact with the Joint Task Force-Israel liaison who was on scene to assess whether our support to the warfighter were met or needed additional assets," he said.

A majority of JC-16 consisted of computer simulation which allowed for planning, execution and observation of mobility tanker and airlift missions in near real time.

"As the exercise injects or 'problems' occurred our team's decision [needed to be timely] as the exercise remained in motion," he said. "At no point, did we press pause and start again. Fidelity was very good and when staring at a screen filled with hundreds of air, sea and land forces, it was very easy to forget that the entire operation existed in cyberspace."

Situations like these are not common problems with simple solutions. If the situation ever happens in real life and lives are on the line, flexibility and awareness are important in making appropriate decisions.

"There is a saying that goes, 'no plan ever survives contact with the enemy,'" he said. "By virtually engaging an adversary threat, simulations gave us the chance to challenge planning assumptions and better deliver a more realistic or 'validated' operation plan to the theatre combatant commander."

The two forces are slated to continue these exercises in the future to further progress their allegiance, trust, and strength in each other.