An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

380AEW Article

U.S. Airmen, Soldiers join forces with host nation to improve air and missile defense

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jeff Andrejcik
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Southwest Asia --  U.S. Airmen and Soldiers from the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing and 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery conducted Hawk Exercise 7 alongside host nation service members from Sept. 13-17, here.

The primary objective of the exercise was to evaluate and improve the integrated Air and Missile Defense interoperability between U.S. and host nation forces.

Col. Jeff, Air Force Central Command Air Warfare Center commander, emphasized the significance of the Coalitions interaction within the AWC during this exercise.

"The mission of the AWC is to build partnerships, tactical capabilities and interoperability to facilitate integrated air operations and missile defense,” said Jeff. “HAWKEX 7 was a bilateral U.S.-Host Nation exercise to accomplish that mission."

The 5-day exercise involved simulated combat scenarios, which combined all aspects of the kill chain from the sensor to the shooter.

Throughout the exercise, participants learned to work together to communicate with pilots and ground based Air and Missile Defense Forces in order to protect key infrastructure while conserving combat power.

Additionally, over the course of the exercise, functions such as command and control, airspace de-confliction, and prioritization of assets were all performed.

The exercise took participants from a peacetime role to a combined wartime conflict in which they had to identify hostile aircraft and missile threats. They also analyzed the best way to interdict and destroy those threats while dealing with the complexity of working in a combined environment.

According to Lt. Col. Lawrence, IAMDC chief of simulations, the U.S. and host nation’s ability to execute complex joint and combined simulations help sustain and improve interoperability and it underscores the importance of having a persistent training capability, like the IAMDC, in the Central Command theater.

“HAWKEX 7 was a very successful exercise where we shared command and control practices,” said the Host Nation Director of IAMDC. “It built our capability and capacity for interaction between our forces for present and future missions.”

(Editor’s note: Due to host nation sensitivities, safety and security reasons, some first and last names were removed.)