Air Force tactical air
assets are participating in a large
joint service live
fire, close air support exercise hosted by the Army’s 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss,
Texas. A-10s from the 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga., are flying close
air support missions, supported by joint terminal attack controllers from the
7th Air Support Operations Squadron, who are also guiding assets such as the
U-28A, MQ-1B Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and F-16s during Exercise Iron Strike,
which runs through Dec. 13. The purpose of the exercise is to train and certify
US Army gun crews in joint fire integration activities with CAS and artillery
support working in concert, said USAF Capt. Kyle Spain, the 7th ASOS executive
officer and lead Air Force planner for Iron Strike. The exercise has a lot of
players and moving parts and is meant to integrate the Army’s “scheme of
maneuver via their armor on the ground” with assets such as AH-64 Apache attack
helicopters and USAF CAS assets, said Maj. Dan Edgar, the 74th FS assistant
director of operations. That’s a training opportunity that has not been available
to Moody’s A-10 pilots previously, he added. A-10 pilots and others, as a
result, have to train to fly above, next to, or in between friendly fires,
Edgar noted.