Air Force Special Operations Command recently wrapped up the two-week Emerald Warrior 2015, a joint service, interagency, and partner nation exercise. The more than 2,100 participants in this year’s event trained on close air support, tactical mobility, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, said Col. Brenda Cartier, exercise director, in a May 4 release. “Emerald Warrior is one of the few exercises of this magnitude where you really get to do these partial and full mission profiles in a nighttime scenario,” said Cartier. Royal Air Force Flt Lt. Mark Dilley said it’s important for his airmen to see how other countries operate. “It is essential to expose our crews to large-scale multinational operations and to other disciplines they might not normally see,” he said. The exercise, which concluded on May 1, took place at various training ranges in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and New Mexico.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.