Air defense soldiers participate in missile fight exercise in Korea

Soldiers with the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade participated in a second defense training class in South Korea last week that included the use of remote terminals.

“The focus of the training was to conduct air-battle management and engagement operations while simultaneously training the brigade and battalion level staff functions,” brigade operations officer Maj. Eric Soler said. “This exercise validated our proof of concept of incorporating (Continental U.S.)-based Patriot units into a realistic wartime scenario optimizing our readiness to defeat an air or missile threat.”

More than 300 soldiers took part in the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)-generated air battle simulation from Aug. 9-14.

Additionally, about 30 MDA personnel from War Games and Exercises Directorate, a part of the Directorate for Test, maintained and operated the air battle simulation designed to replicate realistic threats for air defense soldiers to detect through the Patriot missile system.

Patriot missile system crews organically assigned to the brigade consolidated at Osan Air Base to share institutional knowledge between firing units and to build unit cohesion.

“This exercise provided us the opportunity to conduct a tactics review and to standardize engagement operations across the brigade,” 2nd Lt. Clinton Keeley, an air defense officer assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, said.