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Airpower key to Exercise Valiant Shield

  • Published
  • Pacific Air Force Public Affairs
Command and control of flying operations in the vicinity of Guam during Exercise Valiant Shield Aug. 6-13 will be from the 613th Air and Space Operations Center at Hickam. Thirteenth Air Force's 613th AOC is a proven command and control weapon system that delivers full spectrum capability for planning, directing, and controlling theater assigned and attached forces engaged in all missions from humanitarian operations to full scale conflict.

Overall operational command and control of Exercise Valiant Shield rests with Commander, Joint Task Force 519.

During the exercise, U.S. Air Force aircraft and personnel from stateside bases and Kadena Air Base, Japan, will become part of the 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam. These forces will participate in integrated joint training with Navy and Coast Guard forces. Andersen AFB will also be the beddown location for approximately 64 U.S. Air Force and 29 U.S. Navy aircraft, plus transient aircraft, during Valiant Shield.

"The tremendous capacity at Andersen to accommodate steady-state operations as well as significant numbers of exercise forces demonstrates the strategic importance of Guam for operations in the Pacific," said Lt. Gen. Chip Utterback, joint force air component commander for the exercise and 13th Air Force commander.

"Forward operating bases such as Andersen, along with our Global Strike capability, enable the United States Air Force to launch a bomber from the continental United States, participate in flying operations in the Pacific theater, and land at Guam some 22 hours later," he said. "Valiant Shield is an exciting opportunity to train and enhance joint air operations with US airpower from the Marine Corps, the Navy and the US Air Force."

This is the second year the United States has conducted Valiant Shield. The first Valiant Shield exercise was in June 2006.

The Valiant Shield series of exercises focus on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces and enable real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces and in detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land, and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. Throughout this exercise, safety and the environment are top priorities and were significantly considered during numerous planning conferences that started for the exercise in 2006. VS07 is designed to build upon the lessons learned in VS06 and the Northern Edge series of exercises in order to increase the readiness and proficiency of JTF-519 and Pacific theater military forces.

Members of all the services comprise the joint task force staff.

In addition to the field training exercise being conducted in the vicinity of Guam, a staff training exercise will take place concurrently for staffs at their headquarters locations in Hawaii and San Diego.