JAGOG: training air-ground combat prowess at the NTC and JRTC.

On 5 July, the USAF renamed the Air Ground Operations School (AGOS) at Nellis AFB, Nevada, the Joint Air-Ground Operations Group (JAGOG). (1) This reflects a USAF move to reinforce the unit's joint air-ground training mission and that the organization is more than just a "schoolhouse."

JAGOG trains basic and advanced air-ground combat skills to prosecute land campaigns. Its objective is to develop a joint team that combines close air support (CAS) and air interdiction (AI)--the core air-ground missions--with ground maneuver and fires to win battles.

For Airmen, the proximity of air-to-ground fires to friendly ground forces and the requirement for detailed integration with maneuver and fires in the close fight make CAS the toughest joint mission. For this reason, we emphasize CAS training. (2)

The JAGOG schoolhouse teaches the basics of air-ground planning, integration and execution to produce entry-level joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs), joint fires observers (JFOs), forward air controllers-airborne (FAC-As), air liaison officers (ALOs) and ground liaison officers (GLOs). JAGOG hammers out advanced CAS skills in Air Warrior I and Air Warrior II exercises in conjunction with National Training Center (NTC) and Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) rotations at Fort Irwin, California, and Fort Polk, Louisiana, respectively--two of the Army's "Dirt" Combat Training Centers (CTCs).

JAGOG Organization and Operations. The group consists of four squadrons, one detachment (Det) and one operating location (OL) in four states. Additionally, the Army Joint Support Team-Nellis (AJST-N) is integrated into the JAGOG schoolhouse mission at Nellis AFB. Figure 1 lists the JAGOG units and their locations and major programs.

The JAGOG plan for the Fort Sill OL is to grow the two personnel already assigned to a detachment size (about 12 personnel) within two years and possibly station a combat training squadron (CTS) at Fort Sill later (about 25 personnel). The OL will instruct the JFO Course (JFOC), an Army-Air Force draft course. The eventual JFO throughput planned for Fort Sill is about 500 students per year.

The JFO is a recent jointly recognized combatant. He is an expert in killing targets with artillery and naval surface fire. For Types 2 or 3 CAS, the JFO is trained to serve as the JTAC's eyes and ears when the JTAC is not in a position to see the target or aircraft at weapons release. In those types of CAS, the JFO provides timely, accurate targeting information for the JTAC's (or certified FAC-A's) terminal attack control of the aircraft. Together, they form a joint battle-field team designed to train together and provide commanders lethal CAS.

During the last 12 months, more than 80 percent of JAGOG's 4,000-plus air-ground students wore Army "Green." JAGOG's Air Warrior exercises exposed another 90,000 Soldiers and Airmen to air-ground problems at the "graduate" level. These exercises integrated more than 2,000 fighter/bomber sorties, 30 flying squadrons and approximately 400 tactical air control party (TACP) personnel in the brigade fights at the NTC and JRTC. Air Warrior I and II have been building joint combat prowess in the close force-on-force fight for the last two decades.

All the more, the Army's transformation to a leaner brigade-centric force with less organic direct and indirect fire resources calls for greater reliance on air power to win battles. This has intensified the need for the robust joint training of Soldiers and Airmen in combat operations ranging from stability and support operations (SASO) to major combat operations (MCO).

This article describes the main challenges of air-ground training and some initiatives to keep joint air-ground training "on the front burner" at the NTC and JRTC.

Air-Ground Training Fronts. The air-ground training challenge has lots of moving parts. To help prioritize the effort, JAGOG has organized tactical air-ground training into three "fronts"--first, second and third.

First Front. This front is the point at which terminal attack control, munitions and targets intersect on the battlefield. The training primarily is concerned with the JTAC-JFO lash-up on the ground and the play of the FAC-As and pilots, the air-to-ground trigger pullers. This front is receiving a lot of DoD attention concerning how many JTACs are required to support combat operations on the ground and the equipment, ranges and sorties needed to train that number of JTACs. JAGOG's primary training push at this tactical level is the interdependency of the JFO and JTAC.

Second Front. The second training front is in the brigade combat team (BCT) tactical operations center (TOC). The focus there is on integrating the efforts of the ALO/TACP, the fire support element (FSE) or fires and effects cell (FEC) the latter in the modular BCT, and the rest of the BCT's combat staff.

In my view, this is our toughest training front. It requires extensive practice in garrison and other exercises to get battle priorities and execution right.

This also is the front at which we need to do the most work to correct some dysfunctional CAS practices often observed during the brigade force-on-force scenarios at the NTC and JRTC. The basic problems preventing effective CAS employment at these rotations are listed in Figure 2 on Page 14.

The results of these shortfalls are missed opportunities on the battlefield at best and lost battles at worst.

The Army or Air Force cannot solve these problems in isolation. Both must work together to boost the efficiency of limited air power resources.

Proficient air-ground teams in the TOCs during NTC and JRTC rotations position their JTAC-JFO teams on the battlefield in the right places and times with enough air power to defeat the opposing forces (OPFORs). This, in turn, leverages maneuver and fires to win battles.

Third Front. The third training front addresses the corps-level air support operations center's (ASOC's) interface with the theater air control system (TACS). The ASOC sits astride a number of tactical command and control lash-ups between the senior FEC at the two- or three-star unit of employment (UEx); subordinate TACPs at the brigade, battalion and company levels; FAC-As; and strike aircraft--and at the operational level, to the combined air and space operations centers (CAOCs).

For decades, the Air Force has not trained ASOC command and control skills in a robust combined arms setting. This is a setting in which the ASOC simultaneously works with a CAOC, the senior FEC at the two- or three-star UEx and subordinate TACPs and CAS aircraft, all while dealing with the friction and fog generated in an "opposed" exercise.

The result is that most air-ground command and control lash-ups have to be put together just before or during actual combat operations.

That said, during the last year, the Air Force has initiated a program to overhaul ASOC training to enable the employment of the most air power with the least amount of command and control.

Air Warrior Initiatives. Currently, the NTC and JRTC train BCTs with SASO scenarios that emulate the challenging combat conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the important task of influencing the Afghans and Iraqis to meet coalition goals via nonlethal effects has decreased the high-intensity force-on-force training opportunities for Soldiers and Airmen.

This is a classic problem of "near rocks" and "far rocks" training priorities. Everyone agrees that we must get the SASO mission right today--that our forces must be able to employ air power mainly for nonlethal effects missions (such as presence; show-of-force; intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, or ISR; etc.). At the same time, we need to hone lethal skills to be able to defeat a capable foe in the next major war.

The key is to blend lethal and nonlethal air power execution in the NTC/JRTC and Air Warrior scenarios. The task is for exercise planners to script events that trigger the BCT's execution of lethal CAS. During the last year, both the NTC/JRTC and Air Warrior exercise programs have made great strides in developing various scenario tools to address both SASO and MCO skills and stimulate lethal air-ground training especially in urban settings.

NTC 52d Infantry Division (52d ID)-Directed CAS Fragmentary Order (FRAGO). The CAS FRAGO tasks the BCT to use air power to destroy stationary and mobile targets on the fringes of the BCT's battlespace in support of division objectives. These exercises energize BCT CAS planning and execution in urban environments, thus increasing unit confidence in employing air power.

The missions are complex and require close coordination between the BCT and its higher headquarters. Targets include vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) manufacturing facilities, enemy weapons caches and safe houses, and other urban targets. The BCT's successful execution of CAS or the lack thereof affects scenario force ratios and subsequent combat issues.

The CAS FRAGO is used primarily in SASO and was employed during the 4th ID's mixed high-intensity conflict (HIC)/SASO hybrid rotation at the NTC in July and will be used again for its September NTC rotation.

NTC Hybrid HIC/SASO Rotations. The 4th ID's July rotation featured three HIC battles, three live-fire battles and one extended SASO period. The HIC battles put two battalions in the field to fight a battalion-sized OPFOR amidst urban settlements and cave complexes. The OPFOR was equipped with armored vehicles, surface-to-air threats, infantry and an adaptive command structure. Adding realism and difficulty, Arabic speaking contractors inhabited the urban settlements as they do in SASO.

The BCT's use of CAS (A-10s in this case) in the HIC battles was effective, a reflection of solid joint air-ground skills at the TOC and in the field. The HIC battles reminded all of the difficulty of air-ground integration in a tough force-on-force fight and the necessity to work these perishable skills. The hybrid mix of HIC and SASO scenarios also will be a part of the 4th ID's September rotation and the Joint Forces Command Joint National Training Capabilities' (JNTC's) November rotation at the NTC.

NTC/Air Warrior I Joint Effects Training (JET). The JET is a four-phase program that tackles the issues of the first and second training fronts. The JET trains scouts, reconnaissance teams, TACPs, battalion FSEs, BCT staffs, Army aviation and military intelligence (MI) companies to integrate air power and other joint fires and effects on the battlefield.

The JET exercise is accomplished twice during an NTC rotation under the guidance of the NTC Operations Group and JAGOG observer/controllers (O/Cs). The first JET is "dry fire"; the second is live.

Key training tasks include observation and collection; lethal and nonlethal joint suppression of enemy air defenses (JSEAD); MI data gathering; target marking; airspace coordination; mortar, cannon and multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) missions; CAS battle drills; and air strike execution. The goal is for rotational units to implement JET in home-station training programs to develop an integrated joint effects team.

Phase One of JET is completed at the NTC Leaders Training Program (LTP) and focuses on integrating CAS, artillery, attack aviation and electronic warfare (EW) in a controlled classroom environment under expert instruction. NTCLTP trainers provide the BCT staff with orders directing them to develop a JET as well as provide on-the-spot and after-action review (AAR) feedback. The BCT staff departs the LTP ready to build on effects training at home station.

Phase Two is completed at home station and consists of battalion- and BCT-level exercises integrating JET assets. JTACs, JFOs, forward observers (FOs) and MI units continue formal and informal training and participate in BCT staff-level battle drill training.

As the final part of Phase Two, the BCT's staff is issued an NTC deployment order, including a JET annex complete with training description, scheme of fires, target list, CAS annex and graphics--before it departs for the NTC. The objective is for the BCT staff to come prepared to integrate joint fires.

Phase Three encompasses a complete JET dry run and prepares the BCT to integrate effects during the force-on-force and live-fire battles that follow. During the reception, staging, onward movement and integration (RSOI) phase of the NTC rotation, the BCT conducts training site familiarization, attends CAS classroom instruction and rehearses its plan. The BCT also executes surface-to-surface indirect fire training, focusing on calls-for-fire from forward sensors. The BCT also executes adjust fire, fire-for-effect, smoke, spot and engaging moving target missions. The MI company works on data collection from organic and inorganic assets.

Phase Three culminates in the dry employment of simulated CAS, artillery, attack aviation and EW systems. Feedback is provided on the spot and during the NTC Operations Group Commander's RSOI AAR.

Phase Four culminates in a live JET during the NTC rotation transition to live-fire period. The NTC gives the BCT a live-fire order that includes a JET annex complete with training description, scheme of fires, target list, CAS annex and graphics. The unit refines the basic plan and validates its ability to execute CAS as ordered.

The BCT then takes the field and conducts a series of live-fire JET rehearsals before moving on to the live-fire JET. The live JET rehearsals prepare the BCT for the impending NTC live-fire battles by practicing the most difficult aspects of joint effects integration and mass.

Thirteen BCTs and TACPs have participated in JET events, training more than 500 JTACs, fire support teams (FISTs) and scout team personnel; 39 artillery batteries; and 25 mortar platoons. All units have recommended the continuation of JET exercises. JET performance observations are listed in Figure 3 on Page 16.

JRTC/Air Warrior II CAS Situational Training Exercise (STX) Lanes. During the last six months, the JRTC LTP has reinvigorated air-ground integration with the added emphasis on urban operations. This has culminated in a highly successful CAS STX employing fighter and bomber aircraft over Leesville, Louisiana (estimated population of 6,500), just off the northeast side of the Fort Polk reservation. Leesville is one of three moderately sized cities in the local area that permits dry CAS operations overhead and TACP/FIST teams and their vehicles to operate in the town. Aircraft participate unarmed with a minimum altitude of 3,000 feet above ground level (AGL). The other two cities are DeRidder and Oakdale.

The CAS STX program primarily addresses the JTAC-FO (and future JFO) tactical partnership in executing Type 2 CAS controls. Type 2 CAS occurs when either the visual acquisition of the attacking aircraft or target at weapons release is not possible or the attacking aircraft are not in position to acquire the mark/target prior to weapons release/launch (i.e., during adverse weather or at night, when the aircraft are at high altitudes or use standoff weapons, etc.)

The CAS STX trains the JTAC and FO to deal with the line-of-sight visual and communications issues one encounters around buildings, in alleys and from behind hedgerows in the middle of town. Additionally, the CAS STX adds the difficulties that a large town presents in terms of increased size, clutter and numbers of stationary and moving targets.

The STX trainees, thus far, have included A-10, F-16 and French Mirage 2000 pilots and more than 100 JTACs, FOs, platoon leaders and company commanders.

JRTC/Air Warrior II Live-Virtual-Constructive (L-V-C) Play. The JNTC effort has made steady progress in combining L-V-C exercise participants into JRTC rotations. Now nested as part of the growing distributed mission operations (DMO) network throughout the continental US, the communications, wiring and exercise adjudication procedures are in place for both virtual and constructive aircraft to engage the enemy on the battlefield (linked into the L-V-C network at the JRTC).

Pilots sitting at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana flying A-10 and B-52 simulators have flown missions in SASO scenarios at the JRTC. The AC-130 simulator at Hurlburt Field in Florida also has operated virtually over the JRTC box. Likewise, various Airmen constructively have piloted missions from an office at Fort Polk linked to the radios and command systems of other exercise participants.

While there are many issues and bugs to work out in getting operator fidelity of virtual and constructive effects on the battlefield, the L-V-C effort has already stimulated increased air-ground integration in the BCT TOC.

Ultimately, the DMO network will enable a wide assortment of Airmen, weapons systems and theater command systems to participate in training at the NTC and JRTC.

Air Warrior ASOCs. The Air Warrior exercises now have permanent contractor-run ASOCs, one each at the NTC and JRTC. "Contract ASOC" is the short name for the Air Support Operations Center Element/Joint Air Warfare Tactics Analysis Team (ASOCE/JAWTAT).

The contract ASOCs are manned by former Army and USAF personnel with extensive tactical and operational "shooter" and command and control backgrounds.

These ASOCs are extensions of the air-ground expertise resident in the Air Warrior I and II squadrons. They are designed to support Air Warrior and NTC/JRTC rotations by replicating 24-hour ASOCs. Each contract ASOC executes doctrinal command and control of subordinate TACPs supporting the BCT and coordinates with the FSE/FEC in the division TOC.

Additionally, the ASOCs soon will have the broadband connections to exercise the command and control links between the NTC and JRTC air wars and the training CAOC at Nellis AFB. Important in this construct is the use of real-world command and control systems and processes employed in the Central Command (CENTCOM) theater.

The contract ASOCs also have detailed mission analysis capabilities to enhance Air Warrior feedback and the debriefing of the BCT staffs, TACPs and aircrews. The ASOCs employ enhanced computational technologies to record, analyze and highlight battle successes and failures; provide timely analysis of the integration of air and ground elements; and develop pertinent documentation for unit lessons, trends and future training. At the end of the rotations, every TACP and flying unit departs with a comprehensive "take-home" package of mission playback data and analysis.

The contract ASOC's impact on the BCT is threefold. In addition to better replicating TACS and its processes, the ASOC boosts airspace command, control and coordination for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations in concert with the Army airspace command and control ([A.sup.2][C.sup.2]) function. It also improves the air-ground integration between the FSE/FEC and TACP and their systems within the TOC, a blending of Blue and Green teamwork.

As a final note, the contract ASOC's wealth of operational experience fosters institutional cross-talk between the participants and NTC/JRTC-Air Warrior O/Cs. This interaction will bolster combat skills across the joint spectrum.

Other Air Warrior Initiatives. (3) There are several other Air Warrior initiatives that need quick mention. For example, both Air Warrior programs are increasingly employing a wider variety of aircraft, weapons and sensors in their exercises.

The use of B-52s, B-1s and even B-2s has become routine at the JRTC, both in scenario training and during Leesville-DeRidder-Oakdale urban CAS training. The first B-52 deployed to Nellis this year specifically to execute CAS at the NTC. "Bomber" CAS brings new air-ground capabilities (loiter, munitions and sensors) and challenges (airspace and training).

The first F-15E Strike Eagle employment at both the NTC and JRTC also occurred during the last 18 months.

Air Warrior II also has been working joint surveillance and target attack radar system (JSTARS) E-8 aircrews to help track and point fighters to mobile OPFOR mortars in the counterfire mission.

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Air Warrior continues to bring in joint and allied air units. Joint players have included USN F/A-18s and USMC F/A-18s and AV-8Bs. Allied units include Royal Air Force GR-3 Jaguars and GR-4 Tornados and French Mirage 2000 aircraft. Allies also have sent their TACPs to NTC and JRTC rotations. This trend likely will grow based on the interest other allies have expressed.

The United Kingdom is interested in joining the contract ASOC program as a possible training venue. The latter matches up with a JAGOG plan (FY06) to invite ASOC combat personnel to serve in the contract ASOCs as a training audience. They would train to support a brigade fight, coordinate air and airspace at the UEx level (two-star TOC) and connect to the CAS functions of the CAOC-N at Nellis AFB.

Finally, an important near-term effort at the NTC will aim to improve joint airspace command and control above and below the coordination altitude. The proliferation of UAVs in the BCT battle has increased the difficulty for current [A.sup.2][C.sup.2], ASOC and higher echelon theater air control functions to deconflict and integrate artillery, UAVs, rotary- and fixed-wing players--and, ultimately, to defend the airspace. Meeting this challenge is a specific JNTC objective for the NTC 05-10 rotation and a major issue from the latest Joint Service Chiefs' Forum

The Takeaway. The NTC/JRTC and Air Warrior staffs have made significant strides in providing opportunities to train air-ground combat prowess for the combined arms team. However, good scenarios are not enough to produce air-ground success against an OPFOR. Effective CAS employment is hard work and "a two-way street" for Airmen and Soldiers.

The joint air-ground team in the BCT TOC is the key. Both USAF TACPs and BCT staffs must be ready and fluent in air-ground integration, something they must train on back at the "home fort" long before RSOI at the NTC or JRTC.

Endnotes:

1. For the record, the historic Air Ground Operations School (AGOS) name transferred to the 6th Combat Training Squadron (6 CTS), which runs the school. This move maintains the historical lineage of AGOS, the oldest continuously operating school in the USAF, which began training combatants 55 years ago near Pope AFB, North Carolina.

2. JAGOG also trains Soldiers and Airmen to consider the conditions for Al in MCO. A joint force commander can employ Al and a potent ground force together to defeat an enemy in detail throughout his depth. A concerted Al effort can destroy, delay, disrupt and (or) divert an enemy force. Additionally, the mere threat of an Al campaign may prompt an enemy commander to disperse his forces, making them more vulnerable to ground maneuver. Conversely, ground maneuver can prompt an enemy to concentrate, thus becoming more vulnerable to air attack. Either way, the enemy is caught on the classic "horns of a dilemma" between the synergistic effects of ground and air power.

3. As an aside, both Air Warrior programs also have developed extensive parallel scenarios to train aircrews, TACPs and JFOs in "part-task" training events. These parallel scenarios provide robust lethal air-ground training for aircrews and TACPs/JFOs during quiet SASO periods and after a HIC battle ends. They are conducted independently of BCT operations. Related to this effort at the NTC is a successful initiative to conduct dry CAS missions over Fort Irwin.

Colonel Arden B. ("Surgeon") Dahl, USAF, is the Commander of the Joint Air-Ground Operations Group (JAGOG) at Nellis AFB, Nevada, formerly known as the Air Ground Operations School (AGOS). He is an A-10 Warthog pilot with operational assignments in Europe, Korea and the continental US. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Operations Officer and then Commander of the 74th Fighter Squadron (A-10) at Pope AFB, North Carolina, deploying the squadron in 2002 for combat in Operation Anaconda, part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He served as the Chief of Wing Weapons and Tactics for the 52d Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, deploying with the 81st Fighter Squadron (A-10) for combat during Operation Allied Force in Kosovo. He also deployed with the 74th Fighter Squadron to the Gulf for Operations Desert Shield and Storm.

The author wishes to acknowledge the following who provided invaluable help in writing this article: Lieutenant Colonel (LtCol) David Hardy, Commander, 12th Combat Training Squadron, Fort Irwin, California (Air Warrior I); LtCol Douglas Young, Commander, 549th Combat Training Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nevada (Air Warrior I); LtCol James Hardin, Commander, 548th Combat Training Squadron, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (Air Warrior II); Major Richard Collins, Commander, Detachment 1, 548th Combat Training Squadron, Fort Polk, Louisiana (Air Warrior II); and Mr. J. D. Lyles, Program Manager, ASOCE/JAWTAT, Nellis AFB, Nevada (Contract ASOC).

By Colonel Arden B. Dahl USAF

Unit            Location           Mission                Annual Scope

6 CTS (-)       Nellis AFB, NV     Joint Firepower        1,400+
                                     Course (JFC)           Students
                                   Joint Fires Observer   120 Students
                                     Course (JFOC)
                                   Army Branch School     4,000
                                     Support                Students
6 CTS OL        Fort Sill, OK      JFOC                   Pilot 29 Aug
                                                            05
549 CTS         Nellis AFB         Air Warrior I (NTC)    10 Exercises
12 CTS          Fort Irwin, CA     Air Warrior I (NTC)    10 Exercises
548 CTS (-)     Barksdale AFB, LA  Air Warrior II (JRTC)  10-12
                                                            Exercises
548 CTS, Det 1  Fort Polk, LA      Air Warrior II (JRTC)  10-12
                                                            Exercises

Legend:
AJST-N = Army Joint Support Team-Nellis
CTS OL = Combat Training Squadron Operating Location
Det = Detachment
JRTC = Joint Readiness Training Center
NTC = National Training Center

Figure 1: Joint Air-Ground Operations Group (JAGOG). JAGOG is based at
Nellis AFB, Nevada, with squadrons/units in other locations, as shown,
to provide close air support (CAS) and air interdiction (Al) for land
combat training.

* A lack of understanding of what the desired air power effects should
  be--of what CAS brings to the fight.
* A lack of understanding of the rules of engagement (ROE) that restrict
  air power employment because of air-ground weapons effects on the
  battlefield.
* A lack of CAS planning, which leads to reactive/late CAS employment
  and Inefficient CAS command and control.
* Deficient CAS battle drill: the tactical operation center (TOC) is
  not "at the ready" when CAS arrives.
* Inadequate battle tracking and clearance of fires.
* Poor airspace coordination.

Figure 2: Basic CAS Problems at the NTC and JRTC