Air Forces Northern airmen are participating in Ardent Sentry 2012, a US Northern Command-sponsored exercise testing their ability to support civil authorities in response to a natural disaster. The week-long exercise, which runs through May 9, simulates a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico heading towards the United States as its strengthens into a hurricane. “This is truly a complex and comprehensive exercise that stretches our resources a bit to ensure we consider all aspects of possible support civil authorities might request,” said Col. William Routt, AFNORTH’s director of operations. For the exercise, about 100 airmen from around the country are augmenting AFNORTH and its 601st Air and Space Operations Center in Tyndall AFB, Fla. AFNORTH and the AOC will work with other agencies to coordinate Air Force activities including search and rescue, airlift, airspace management, and medical, logistics, and communications support. (Tyndall release)
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.