Northern Edge 2008 (NE08) Exercise Underway

Over the Yukon River, Alaska -- Three F-15 Eagles from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada's 65th Aggressors Squadron receives fuel from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, from Kadena Air Force Base, Japan while flying over the Upper Yukon area of the interior of Alaska. The aircraft, along with over 120 others, are in Alaska as part of the Northern Edge 08. NE08 is a joint training exercise that provides effective, flexible and capabilities-centered joint forces ready for deployment worldwide and enables real world proficiency in detections and tracking of units at sea, in the air, and on land in response to multiple crises. Over 5,000 service members and 120 aircraft are involved in the exercise that is schedule for May 5 – 16. (Photo by Master Sgt Keith Brown)

Northern Edge 2008 (NE08) Exercise Underway

Published May 14, 2008
By Northern Edge Public Affairs staff report
Elmendorf Joint Information Bureau

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- What do the following numbers have in common: 360 sorties, 930 flying hours and 770,000 gallons of jet fuel?

These numbers add up to the amount of training events and support activities that have made the first week of Northern Edge 2008 a success.

There's one other number which also needs to be brought to the forefront - 33. That is the number of years Alaska has been host to one of the largest joint military exercises in existence. These exercises began in 1975, when exercise Jack Frost launched focusing on operations and training sponsored by the U.S. Readiness Command. However, later that year, the Command learned that the exercise would need to be renamed because Jack Frost was prohibited by Joint Chief of Staff publications. Since the exercise's beginnings, it has had four names: Brim Frost, then Arctic Warrior in 1991, and finally ending with Northern Edge in 1993.

Regardless of the name, Northern Edge continues to be a nationally recognized Joint Chiefs of Staff sponsored event and Alaska's largest military joint training exercise. The two-week field training exercise is focused on execution of tactical-level, joint interoperability tasks associated with Pacific Command's (PACOM) war-fighting missions.

"Northern Edge 2008 is one of the few opportunities where tactical war fighters get to integrate jointly toward honing their skills and capabilities for vital war plans and real-world support" said Mr. Jeff Fee, Director for Training, Readiness, and Exercises for the Alaskan Command.

Due to the extensive flying operations in Northern Edge, Alaska is the best location in the Pacific to conduct the exercise due to the Pacific Alaska Range Complex (PARC). The PARC itself provides 67,000 square miles of airspace, allowing the U.S. military the best opportunity to hone combat skills in a realistic environment with minimal impact on local communities.

Even with one of the best locations, there are new challenges every year and this year is no different. With a little more than 5,000 participants, "we have less people participating this year so we are focusing on critical task training and we're becoming more operationally effective in the process" said Fee.

The numbers, and challenges, all lead to the same goal: a joint training event that is providing effective, flexible and capabilities-centered joint forces ready for deployment worldwide and enables real world proficiency in detection and tracking of units at sea, in the air and on land, and response to multiple crises.