[MilCom] Exercise Coastal K-Bar

[Mac McCormick III]

The Marines, Air Force, and Army are conducting an exercise in
Townsend Range and the Coastal MOA south of Savannah this
week.  This afternoon, I've heard activity on:

228.400    Townsend Range Control
252.900    Townsend Range Control
286.600    Coastal MOA

388.225    JSTARS Discrete
372.150    JSTARS Discrete
376.125    JSTARS Discrete
355.250    JSTARS Discrete (all encrypted)

The Marine Corps News had an article on the exercise, the text of
it is below.  A direct link to to the article is:
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/96D7113B9D542157852571C70063A475?opendocument


Mac
Savannah, GA




MAG-31 revs engines up for LFE
Aug. 11, 2006; Submitted on: 08/11/2006 02:08:21 PM ; Story ID#: 
200681114821

By Lance Cpl. Zachary Dyer, MCAS Beaufort




MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC (Aug. 11, 2006) -- The Marines and 
sailors of Marine Aircraft Group 31 are preparing for Coastal K-Bar, a joint 
exercise that is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The three-day, Large Force 
Exercise at Townsend Bombing Range, Ga., which will bring together assets 
from the Air Force and Army as well as the Marine Corps, is designed to 
train aircrews in various aspects of air combat.

"Coastal K-Bar is going to be a three-day exercise that will train aircrew 
to their most likely mission sets," said Maj. Sean DeWolfe, an officer with 
the MAG Training Officer Cell.

The types of missions that aircrew will train to during the exercise will 
cover everything from air interdiction and close air support to forward air 
control airborne and strike coordination and reconnaissance, according to 
DeWolfe.

"It differs from a normal LFE due to the amount of joint assets 
participating," DeWolfe said "As far as LFEs go, this is the widest variety 
that I have seen at the Group level."

The joint assets include two Marine Reserve Hornet squadrons from Fort 
Worth, Texas, and Atlanta, several Air Force units from various 
installations, Army AH-64 Apache helicopters from McEntire Air National 
Guard Base and Joint Terminal Air Controllers from Savannah, Ga., Washington 
state and Hawaii, according to DeWolfe.

"U.S. military strategy emphasizes that air, land, sea, and special 
operations forces must be capable of working together in large-scale combat 
operations," DeWolfe said. "The major regional theaters that the United 
States armed forces are engaged in today illustrates the diverse missions 
that they can expect to perform. Training opportunities, such as Coastal 
K-Bar, provide an invaluable opportunity to test and fine tune our 
interoperability."

These assets require a great deal of coordination to set up and to track 
while the exercise is underway. The responsibility for most of that 
coordination rests in the hands of the Tony Diaz, the mission coordinator at 
the Air Station's Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System facility.

"There are at least 14 outside units from the joint community training with 
MAG-31," Diaz said. "We can track everything from here, run all of the 
communications, and debrief aircrews - all in one building."

Using radar and other tracking devices, the TACTS personnel keep tabs on 
everything that happens in the air and evaluate the success of the mission, 
according to Diaz.

"Other units like to train with us because they can come here, do their 
training, and fly back home," Diaz said.

The coordination was not only between the various units participating in the 
exercise, but also with the two communities neighboring the bombing range, 
Ludowici and Townsend, Ga., according to Diaz.

"We have a very good working relationship with the local law enforcement," 
Diaz said. "They will actually be working alongside our ground personnel to 
ensure safety and maximize the training available. They will be there to 
make sure that anything conducted outside Townsend Range happens in a safe 
manner."

One advantage of the exercise taking place at Townsend Range is that noise 
complaints, something usually associated with increased aircraft activity, 
are not a problem, according to Diaz.

"The aircraft will be out over the ocean, fly over the woods to Townsend 
Range, and then back out," Diaz said. "There are no issues with noise."

It also helps that the local communities generally embrace their military 
neighbors.

"They are very patriotic towns," Diaz said of Ludowici and Townsend. "They 
actually like to see the jets fly over. They are very supportive of their 
troops in training."