NORAD and USNORTHCOM conducting ARDENT SENTRY 2012 starting tomorrow

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command will conduct a major exercise, ARDENT SENTRY 2012, focused on Defense Support of Civil Authorities, May 2 – 9, 2012.

The exercise will be primarily a Command Post Exercise, but there will be field training events within the exercise. Those events will take place in North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Alaska, Connecticut and Nova Scotia and involve United States and Canadian military units.

- North Dakota, the Air Force Global Strike Command will respond to a simulated Nuclear Weapons Incident (NUWAIX) on Minot Air Force Base.

- Oregon, the Oregon National Guard will work with state and local officials to respond to numerous weather-related and security events.

- Texas, US Army North will deploy a task force to work through the process of leading a military response to a major hurricane.

- Alaska, Joint Task Force-Alaska will conduct a coordinated response to a major aircraft crash in a remote area.

- Nova Scotia, Canadian and US Naval forces will work together to handle a security related event.

ARDENT SENTRY 12 will validate existing plans, policies, and procedures, including the Federal Inter-agency Response Plan, as well as state and regional plans.

USFF/CNIC Completes Ardent Sentry/National Level Exercise 2011

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) completed Ardent Sentry/National Level Exercise (AS/NLE-11) 2011, May 19th.

The purpose of National Level Exercise is to prepare the military, including the U.S. Navy, to focus on defense support to civil authorities (DSCA) for missions assigned through the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) to Homeland Defense organizations.

"We are very proud of our [CNIC] team and the region's performance during AS/NLE-11. We firmly believe our high performance was due to CNIC's Training and Readiness pre-exercise support, to include the Region Operations Center, operations course, as well as the command's culture of training instilled through weekly recurring Emergency Operations Center (EOC) training and emergency management (EM) plan preparation sessions," said Scott Ebell, executive director, Navy Region Midwest.

The objectives of the exercise were to train in the following areas:

• restoration of USN facilities and infrastructure in the affected area
• support of the extended Navy family
• DSCA and immediate response
• personnel accountability in response to an unanticipated natural disaster

"The use of the modeling and simulation (M&S) tools greatly enhanced the quality of the exercise injects, providing a realistic scenario for the installation commanding officer and staff. We will leverage M&S in all our future exercises," said William Clark, shore exercise program manager, CNIC.

Exercise play spanned the Navy, from Chief of Naval Operations guidance, through personnel accountability and mission support, down to 'affected' installations handling scripted scenarios.

USFF serves as the Navy operational commander for U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) during disaster preparedness/response and DSCA type exercises.

CNIC, along with USFF, receives requests for support (RFS) from subordinate commanders (such as Navy Region Midwest and Naval Support Activity Mid-South), which result in providing support and services ranging from baby supplies to damage assessment teams.

The Navy participated in AS/NLE 2011 May 16 -19. The exercise was centered around a scenario of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred in western Tennessee near Memphis, creating widespread damage and casualties throughout eight midwestern states and four Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions.

USS Shoup Supports NORAD in Air Defense Exercise

By Lt. Elisabeth Erickson, USS Shoup Public Affairs

USS SHOUP, At Sea (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer, USS Shoup (DDG 86) wrapped up participation in joint air and space exercise Amalgam Dart June 23.

Amalgam Dart is part of North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) Ardent Sentry '09 exercise series. Shoup played a major role in Amalgam Dart which took place off the coast of Oregon and protected U.S. air sovereignty through airspace surveillance and control.

"Shoup does not often get the opportunity to participate in joint exercises like Amalgam Dart, so this was a valuable experience for my Sailors," said Shoup Commanding Officer Cmdr. Michael Lehman. "Working with the Army liaisons was very productive, and we gained important lessons learned for future exercises and real-world homeland defense scenarios."

Shoup was integrated into the exercise from the Air and Space Operations Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., where the Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR) commander and his staff directed Air Force and Army assets and coordinated with the Maritime Component Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, in employing Navy assets.

Shoup detected and tracked unknown air contacts with its advanced Aegis weapons system, while the Western Air Defense Sector, based at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., detected, identified, tracked and scrambled fighters to intercept threatening airborne objects.

Simultaneously, the Air Force's 552nd Air Control Wing E-3 Sentry provided all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications needed by air defense forces over secure data and voice networks provided by Rhode Island Air National Guard's (ANG) 282nd and Georgia ANG's 283rd Combat Communications Squadron.

"Being out on the ocean with a Navy ship is a unique experience for an Army officer, and we hope to incorporate the Navy in future homeland defense exercises," said Army Maj. Scott Joslin, who was aboard Shoup for the duration of the exercise,

These coordinated joint efforts ensured the air sovereignty and air defense of the continental United States, which met the goal of the exercise to demonstrate a rapidly deployable air defense system that could protect high profile national targets against cruise missiles and other low-flying threats.

"Exercise Amalgam Dart '09 provides the opportunity to train for potential scenarios that could affect the Continental U.S.," said Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow, CONR commander. "Exercises like this allow us to review processes and procedures and focus our future training efforts to identifying areas that may need attention."

"This exercise allowed us to practice our air control and engagement skills in a Real World Environment, so we will be better prepared for operations with the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group," said Chief Warrant Officer Bill Morgan, Shoup's Combat Information Center officer.

Homeland Defense, U.S. Fleet Forces Tested in Exercise Ardent Sentry '09

By Chief Mass Communication Specialist (SW/AW) Sonya Ansarov, U.S. Fleet Forces Public Affairs

NORFOLK (NNS) -- U.S. Fleet Forces Command's (USFF) Maritime Operations Center (MOC) successfully displayed their ability to support their combatant commander in maritime homeland defense during the combined exercise Ardent Sentry 2009 (AS09) June 18-23.

"Exercise Ardent Sentry '09 allowed U.S. Fleet Forces to showcase our Maritime Operations Center's command, control and coordination capability as part of a global network during simulated crises and threat events to our maritime security," said Rear Adm. Dennis E. FitzPatrick, director of USFF's Joint Operations Division.

The focus of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)/U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)-led exercise was to test defense support to civil authorities and homeland defense by providing military support and response capabilities to federal, provincial, state and local authorities during crisis scenarios. The scenarios in AS09 included major flooding, terrorist attacks and a pandemic animal disease affecting livestock across five states.

"The secondary function of Ardent Sentry, or what we are using it for, is our [USFF] pre-accreditation of our Maritime Operations Center," said Capt. Mark J. Pawlak, USFF's MOC transition director.

MOCs are used Navy-wide at numbered fleets to effectively synchronize joint maritime operations by streamlining the planning, execution and assessment process.

USFF is the seventh out of eight MOCs to reach preliminary accreditation status

NORAD and USNORTHCOM exercise starts tomorrow

PETERSON AFB, Colo. – North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command are planning to conduct a combined exercise June 18 - 24 that will incorporate several military exercises with a National Guard exercise. These linked exercises are referred to as ARDENT SENTRY 09. Events will take place in multiple venues across the country including Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Wyoming, and off the East and West Coasts.

The exercise will allow several Department of Defense organizations and some federal and state partners to implement plans and respond to a variety of notional events. Historically, exercises like these have helped both DoD and other agencies review their processes and procedures and focus their future training efforts on closing gaps and identifying areas that need additional attention.

Major AS 09 venues include:

■ NORAD’s AMALGAM DART exercise involving air defense activities at Camp Rilea, Oregon;

■ The National Guard’s VIGILANT GUARD exercise focused on civil support with major activities in Des Moines, Iowa and Topeka, Kansas; and,

■ A Nuclear Weapons Incident exercise (NUWAIX) with a U.S. Air Force response near Cheyenne, Wyoming;

The activities in the vicinity of Camp Rilea will involve the deployment of an Army National Guard ground-based air defense system that will be integrated with Air Force airborne systems (AWACS and fighters) and a Navy Aegis Destroyer