CAS training at the NTC.

During the last several years, the trend at the combat training centers (CTCs) is for Army units to come to rotations untrained or poorly trained in integrating close air support (CAS) in ground operations. The National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California, is the one place where air and maneuver come together with dedicated time, the enemy and enough battlespace to train in CAS. The NTC has begun reforming its CAS training with a number of initiatives.

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Train Observer/Controllers (O/Cs). The NTC Operations Group is focusing on CAS train-the-trainer to improve airspace management at the division level and live CAS. The NTC has developed CAS planning and execution Wolf MasterCards as training aids.

In the train-the-trainer program, O/Cs have gone to the Joint Firepower Course at the Air-Ground Operations School (AGOS), Nellis AFB, Nevada, or AGOS has sent a mobile training team (MTT) to the NTC, resulting in 105 O/Cs and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment staffers trained in CAS.

Also, the NTC has sent representatives to Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) CAS symposiums and conducted CAS professional development training for fire supporters and for integrating brigade fire support and Air Force trainers.

The Lizard Team, which replicates the 52d Infantry Division, also has formed an Army airspace command and control ([A.sup.2][C.sup.2]) cell to develop airspace graphics for the division [A.sup.2][C.sup.2] overlay and the air control order (ACO). This cell deconflicts the division's airspace by using high-density airspace control zones (HIDACZs) over brigade combat team (BCT) sectors; building minimum risk routes (MRRs) from rear areas over HIDACZs to areas beyond the brigade's forward boundary; and building division airspace coordination areas (ACAs) using terrain, boundaries and airspace requirements beyond the brigade forward boundary out to the division forward boundary. These measures support division essential fire support tasks (EFSTs). The Operations Group has found that HIDACZs still force brigades to deconflict airspace within their areas of operation (AOs) while requiring higher echelons to coordinate to maneuver and attack within the airspace.

Additionally, the Operations Group is working with USAF Air Warrior Exercise planners to update the special instructions (SPINS) in the NTC air tasking order (ATO) to include the Q-37 and Q-36 Firefinder radars as sources for positive identification for Type 2 control of CAS. (Type 2 is when the terminal air controller controls the attack but visual acquisition of the aircraft or weapons release is not possible or required.)

Joint Effects Training (JET). In an effort to show units how to plan and integrate CAS with artillery to standard, the Operations Group has introduced JET, a crawl-walk training program. JET begins with the Leader Training Program (LTP) (Phase 1, crawl). LTP teaches unit leaders what CAS done right "looks like" before their rotation, so they can incorporate CAS training at home station. (See the figure.) Phase 2 is Home-Station Preparation (crawl).

After the unit attives at the NTC for its rotation. Phases 3 and 4 of JET take four days. Phase 3 is JET Force-on-Force Training (walk) for dry CAS at the NTC. Units have some classroom instruction followed by a one-day reception, staging, onward movement and integration (RSOI) exercise. In the RSOI, the brigade combat team (BCT) deploys its collection and acquisition assets to collect visual and signal signatures provided by opposing force (OPFOR) vehicles and the 52d Division's joint surveillance and target attack radar system (JSTARS) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) feeds. The collection assets include Prophets (MLQ-40s), ground surveillance radars (GSRs) and Traffic Jammers (TLQ-17s). The acquisition assets include USAF enlisted terminal air controllers (ETACs), brigade reconnaissance teams (BRTs), combat observation lasing teams (COLTs) and task force fire support teams (TF FISTs).

This allows the BCT staff and effects team to integrate their observation and effects in a controlled, coached environment to build a CAS fire plan and execute that plan dry. The BCT staff gets hands-on training in airspace deconfliction, targeting and CAS integration in a relatively unconstrained setting.

Phase 4 is JET Live-Fire CAS Training (walk). The RSOI exercise is the dry rehearsal for live-CAS training on Training Day 11 of the rotation, using artillery and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.

The NTC's first iteration of JET was in January 2004 and paid dividends during BCT live-fire operations.

As we move forward on certifying and qualifying Army joint tactical air controllers (JTACs) to ensure ground forces have ready access to all joint fires, including fixed-wing fires, we also must ensure units can plan for and integrate those fires safely and most effectively. Only by getting into the details of CAS "how to" with a command focus on CAS at home station training and advanced-level training at our CTCs can the Army expect to harness the power of joint fires to provide the greatest effects in ground operations.

CAS Training:
* Orientation/How-To Briefings by both NTC Leader Training Program and
  Air-Ground Operations School (AGOS) Personnel
* A Planning and Execution Practical Exercise for Integrating CAS

CAS and Airspace Deconfliction Tools:
* Maximum Ordinate Tables
* Joint, Army and Air Force Publications
* Air Force Smart Cards and How-To Briefings

Close Air Support (CAS) Leader Training Program (LTP). Phase 1 of the
National Training Center's (NTC's) Joint Effects Training (JET)

LTC Mark L. Waters (Wolf07)

MAJ James A. Frick (Bronco27)

NTC, Fort Irwin, CA