94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Exercises Joint, Bilateral Defense

Story and Photo by Pfc. Ashley M. Armstrong

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii—Soldiers under the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command participated in Keen Edge 2009, a U.S. military forces and Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF) joint command post exercise, here, Jan. 17-24.

Keen Edge is an annual exercise intended to strengthen cooperation and defensive readiness between U.S. military forces and JSDF in support of the Japan- U.S. Security Alliance through

Computer-simulated scenarios.

“Keen Edge is the biggest exercise that we have with the Japanese in terms of coordinating and integrating air and missile defense with defense in Japan, especially for specific U.S. special interests in Japan,” said Col. Christopher Moylan, chief of staff, 94th AAMDC.

Soldiers of the 94th AAMDC conducted operations here and in Japan to react to simulated theater ballistic missile attacks using a computer-based system called the Joint Theater Level Simulation system, to direct and respond to exercise events.

“Keen Edge exercises the unit’s wartime functions to help improve how we would fight the bilateral fight with our Japanese counterparts. It shows what tactics, techniques and procedures need to be improved upon and which need to be sustained,” said Staff Sgt. Steven D. McAfoose, day-shift battle noncommissioned officer, 94th AAMDC.

The 94th AAMDC’s role in the exercise, as the theater missile defense headquarters, was to synchronize and integrate all the air defense missions with the Pacific Command (PACOM) commander, said Moylan.

“Every exercise we conduct with joint and bilateral forces improves on how we manage the battle. Each theater is different on who is on your right in the fight and how you will fight with them,” said McAfoose.

Approximately 350 U.S. and 1,300 Japanese personnel participated in Keen Edge 09, including those assigned to U.S. Forces, Japan Headquarters; 13 Air Force, Detachment 1; U.S. Naval Forces, Japan; U.S. Army, Japan; and U.S. Marine Forces, Japan.

“This exercise allows us to exchange ideas with the Japanese on how we would employ our ballistic missile defense assets. It also allows us to build tactics, techniques and procedures on how would employ those assets in real world situations. It’s especially critical for us because we have a radar in Shariki and we have 1-1 Air Defense Artillery in Okinawa and how they tie in with the Japanese is very important,” said Moylan.

Soldiers of the 94th AAMDC worked around the clock, coordinating with subordinate units and joint and bilateral assets to respond to war time missile scenarios in defense of Japan.

 “Overall it was a huge success this was actually the first time the Japanese have employed Aegis Ships along with Patriot Advanced Capabilities-3 (PAC-3) batteries in a bilateral defense design with the U.S. There have been some significant leaps and bounds over the last two exercises where we have never really gotten to the end-state of having a coordinated defense plan, so this was huge,” said Moylan.