Northern Edge 2009: military training in the 'Last Frontier'

  • Published
  • By Marine Sgt. Zachary Dyer
  • Northern Edge Joint Information Bureau
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines have come together to hone their warfighting capabilities during the largest military training exercise in Alaska. 

Approximately 9,000 servicemembers will take part in exercise Northern Edge 2009 June 15-26. 

The air-centric exercise involves more than 200 Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. Northern Edge will be conducted mostly from Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force bases in Alaska, with operations being conducted in the Gulf of Alaska and at the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. 

Servicemembers involved in the exercise will practice defensive counter air operations, close air support, air interdiction of maritime targets, personnel recovery missions and have the opportunity to incorporate new weapons systems into their operations. The main focus of the exercise is to better prepare the warfighters of each service to respond to a crisis in the Asia-Pacific region. 

"Northern Edge is probably, if not the biggest, then one of the biggest joint training exercises in all of the (Department of Defense) enterprises," said Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, the commander of Alaskan Command and 11th Air Force. "To bring Northern Edge to Alaska is one of the most optimum things we could do in the military right now. Alaska has a phenomenal training environment. Most people understand the (Nellis AFB, Nevada) training range - the Nellis training range has approximately 12,000 square miles of training air space. Here in Alaska, just in the overland training airspace, there's 65,000 square miles. We also integrate the Gulf of Alaska, so we'll have nearly 120,000 square miles." 

One feature of Northern Edge 2009 designed to increase the scope of the exercise is its Live-Virtual-Constructive operations that combine real-time operations with aircrew participating in aircraft simulators and computer generated combatants. Through the L-V-C aspect of Northern Edge, servicemembers from nine different time zones, some as far away as Virginia, are able to participate in the exercise. 

"It gives us a level of complexity that we could not normally do, based on the restriction on resources and sometimes even the training spaces that we have to operate within," said Atkins. 

Almost every Alaskan-based Air Force unit is involved in the exercise, with approximately 2,000 people deployed here from other bases around the country and abroad, and an additional 5,000 people operating on ships in the Gulf of Alaska. The major commands involved in the exercise are U.S. Pacific Command, Alaskan Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Army Pacific, Special Operations Command Pacific, Air Combat Command, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and U.S. Naval Reserve. 

At the end of the two-week exercise, all the players involved should walk away confident in their ability to work together to accomplish the mission, explained Atkins. 

"You build a Super Bowl team when you know that the wide receiver is going to run the pattern the quarterback said, or the guy on the line is going to do exactly what he needs to so that nobody gets to the quarterback," said Atkins. "We build that confidence in these kind of exercises. That's probably one of the biggest dividends that comes out of this - the trust that we build between all of our service partners."