DVIDS:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Capt. Brian Haley is an Attack Operations Chief with the 32rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command at Fort Bliss, Texas. He’s spent the last two weeks training with the 183rd Air Operations Group as part of exercise Virtual Flag, Dec. 2–10, 2015.
The U.S. Army assigns a team of highly trained experts to air operations centers during major combat to support theater missile defense in joint operations.
“Essentially, we’re part of Air Force operations,” said Haley. “It’s our job to coordinate and integrate with the Air Force to deliver theater missile defense.”
Attack operations, which are Haley’s specialty, are offensive actions that destroy and disrupt enemy missile systems.
“Attack operations are integrated into the air tasking order. We’re part of air operations planning and execution processes,” said the combat veteran.
Haley, who is also an AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot, explained that TMD also includes passive operations such as tactical warnings and active defense operations like engaging enemy launch platforms.
Virtual Flag is a recurring exercise that provides training in joint operations utilizing a simulated battlespace distributed to connected participants. Training networks are specifically designed to link simulators from around the world.
The U.S. Air Force’s Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, delivered the simulation. The DMOC developed the scenario and training events and acted as a central hub for the exercise.
