By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – It was a scene unthinkable
even 30 years ago as U.S., Canadian and Russian militaries worked together this
week at the North American Aerospace Command headquarters to confront a common
enemy: terrorist hijackers.
That’s exactly what happened during
Vigilant Eagle 12, the third exercise of its kind designed to promote
collaboration in detecting hijacked aircraft and scrambling military jets to
intercept and escort them to safety.
This year’s three-day exercise was
computer-based, with participants at the NORAD headquarters at Peterson Air
Force Base, Colo.; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and at two bases in
Russia.
The scenario involved commercial
airliners on international flights that had been seized by terrorists, Air
Force Brig. Gen. Richard W. Scobee, NORAD’s deputy operations director, told
reporters as the exercise wrapped up yesterday. One simulated hijacking took
off from Alaska and was headed for Russian airspace; the other originated in
Russia and was bound for the United States.
The scenarios required NORAD – the
U.S.-Canada command that safeguards U.S. skies under Operation Noble Eagle --
and the Russian air force to go through the procedures they would use to
dispatch fighter jets to investigate and track the aircraft heading toward each
other’s airspace. At that point, they handed off the missions to the other to
complete.
Applying lessons learned during last
year’s exercise, which involved actual aircraft, the participants worked
through escort and handoff procedures using their different communications,
command-and-control and air traffic control systems, Scobee explained.
To complicate the scenarios, and to
reflect what assets might be available during a real-life hijacking, they had
to work without input from the U.S. Air Force’s Airborne Warning and Control
System or Russia’s A-50 Beriev system.
NORAD and Russia share surprisingly
similar tactics, techniques and procedures, Scobee said yesterday during a post
exercise news conference. “It is remarkable that they are so similar,” he said.
“Even though we developed them separately, we see the problem similarly.”
Subtle differences became transparent
during the exercise, Scobee said, because of the “clean handoff” as one command
handed the mission and authority over to the other. “It was like a handshake,”
he said.
The unifying factor, Scobee said, was an
understanding that actions taken could mean the difference between life and
death for passengers. “That is the No. 1 thing – and the Russian Federation is
just like NORAD [and] the United States and Canada,” Scobee said. “We want to
protect our citizens, and that is our primary goal.”
Scobee and Maj. Gen. Sergey Dronov of
the Russian air force, who led Russia's delegation in Colorado, praised the
professionalism of both the NORAD and Russian militaries and their shared
appreciation of the importance of the mission.
“Right now, we have a common enemy, and
that is terrorism,” Dronov said through an interpreter.
“Our countries are uniquely plagued by
terrorism,” agreed Scobee. “And this exercise gives us an opportunity to work
together, to learn from each other about how we are dealing with those kinds of
events.”
The goal, he said, is to increase the
complexity of the exercises, refining concepts and procedures in simulation,
then applying them in the sky the following year.
“Next year, we will go back and use
lessons learned from this exercise and apply them to another live-fly
exercise,” he said. “It will be one of those things where we learn from each
other and keep building on the exercises we have.”
Future exercises will continue to
integrate new curve balls that keep participants on their toes while reflecting
how adaptable adversaries operate, Scobee said.
“It is a constant chess game, because
just like we don’t keep our tactics stagnant, terrorists do the same thing,” he
said. “They are always thinking of another way to try to get past our systems
of control. So we always have to think about adjusting our tactics, our
training and our procedures.”
Dronov said he was impressed during this
year’s exercise by how quickly the participants dealt with challenging
scenarios thrown their way. “They are also walking away with some priceless
experience of interaction with each other,” he said. “I am confident that in
the future, this cooperation will continue.”
The Vigilant Eagle series stems from a
2003 agreement between the U.S. and Russian presidents to promote closer
cooperation as they move beyond the Cold War era, Scobee explained. The threat
of international hijackers served as a foundation to help advance that effort,
resulting in a relevant exercise program that helps address a recognized
threat.
“The populations of the United States
and Canada and the Russian Federation should hear this loud and clear: We are
here to ensure their safety,” Scobee said. “Not only do we practice here at
NORAD multiple times a day for this to happen, but now we are also practicing
with our international partners to ensure that the air systems of all our
countries are safe. And then, if something does go wrong, that we are there to
take action.”
This helps to provide a unified front
against terrorist hijackers like those who attacked the United States on 9/11,
giving birth to the Noble Eagle mission, he said.
“We will never be helpless again,”
Scobee added. “[The public] should hear that loud and clear.”
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