Senior IAF leaders visit Kirtland AFB

  • Published
  • By Stefan Bocchino
  • 377th Air Base WIng Public Affairs
Kirtland Air Force Base, NM --  Indian Air Force (IAF) senior leaders visited the 705th Combat Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base July 26 and 27.

The IAF leaders were here to learn how we use simulators for different aircraft as well and how to do distributed mission operations (DMO), according to Major Mark Hadley, 705 CTS assistant director of operations. DMO means networking different simulators together across not only the same building, but across the world.

IAF officers toured the 705th CTS facilities to learn more about the employment of simulators for basic pilot training as well as combined coalition operations. They are currently looking to upgrade their own simulators and this visit was part of a fact finding mission as they determine a way forward for the future.

"The 705th CTS team showcased DMO for our IAF partners," said Col. Will Reese, 505th Distributed Warfare Group commander. "Not only the pilot training portion, which most people tend to focus on, but also for our space and cyber warriors and our Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines on the ground."

The 705th CTS falls under the 505th Command and Control Wing (ACC) at Hurlburt Field in Florida. During the visit to Kirtland, IAF officials learned how to tie everything together from the Combined Forces Air Component Commander to the triggerman said Lt. Col. Dan Pepper, 705th CTS commander.

"I think their expectations were to learn not only about how to use the simulators for basic training, emergency procedures, the very basic things you need to fly an aircraft, but also how to use them in a large force exercise," said Lt. Col. Pepper. "With this capacity we have here we're able to integrate those simulators not just from a training perspective, but how we employ them in complex mission scenarios, tailorable to the unique requirements of our Joint Force Commanders."

Visiting IAF personnel are interested in taking part in future Virtual Flag exercises according to Lt. Col. Pepper. Virtual Flag exercises link geographically separated live, virtual and constructive weapons assets in a shared joint synthetic theater environment.

"This was a great opportunity for our team to show our coalition partners how we use DMO to train across the entire joint theater C2 process for our component numbered air forces and explain it in a way that made sense to them," said Col. Reese. "It was an outstanding visit overall. We enjoyed the opportunity to host them and share how we use simulators for training."