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Operation LONESTAR

By Lt. Col. Gary Weaver
17th TRG
Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas

Operation LONE STAR provides mission-ready warriors prepared for today’s high-ops tempo environment.

The exercise, conducted at Goodfellow AFB, Texas, combines officers and joint-service enlisted students into working teams. Annually, it involves over 1,000 staff members comprised of officer and enlisted students from five intelligence disciplines and six training courses. The scenario can be likened to a RED FLAG, a realistic operational environment lasting eight 12-hour (or longer) days.

During the exercise, students create daily Air Tasking Orders, assign surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, learn targeting principles, conduct aircrew pre-mission briefings and de-briefings, provide advisory support to theater operations, and analyze pre-strike and post-strike imagery. Additionally, students experience duty recall, mobility lines, deployment actions, MREs, and chemical protection gear.

OLS has become the most comprehensive, first-of-its-kind intelligence exercise in the training environment producing over 900 mission-ready intelligence specialists annually.

The OLS staff has prepared a strategic plan with the goal of making OLS the best intelligence training exercise in the world.

Starting with classrooms depicting “bare-base” operations, OLS has built seven classrooms as a realistic Air Operations Center, Wing Operation Center/Mission Planning Cells, a Signals Intelligence Operations Center (SOC) and a Joint Intelligence Center (JIC).

Linking the classrooms are a computer network, INTELINK access, imagery, and reference databases, mirroring the environment and architectures utilized within the production centers our forces currently operate.

Utilizing in-house resources, contributions from national agencies and self-help, OLS has fulfilled 60 initiatives to promote realism, upgrade facilities, and improve safety and quality of life for students.

Through diligent 17th Training Group efforts, students now receive an authentic air campaign presentation, incorporating a 25 percent expanded database and integrated information warfare events.

Doubling the Lone Star curriculum length, OLS has prepared 60 new hours of instruction that incorporates Intelligence Operations Plan preparation and state-of-the-art Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance techniques.

The scenario now involves over 3,000 messages, including actual information warfare events, and uses schoolhouse linguists as enemy special forces “attackers.”

Based on the “merit of training” improvements made and validated by the combatant commands, Lone Star received $130,000 in computers and lifetime contractor logistical support from Electronic Systems Command. Furthermore, from downsizes Army units, OLS has obtained mobility gear valued at over $80,000 at no cost. OLS built a JIC with softcopy imagery, also at no cost, by realigning existing AETC resources. OLS has established pipelines with PACOM/PACAF/USFK for target materials, softcopy imagery support to the scenario, and automated Battle Damage Assessment with a 50 percent time reduction in BDA reporting to students.

In addition, OLS has acquired support from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency/Defense Intelligence Agency for collection planning and national system architectures. This support includes $70,000 for the Joint Collection Management Tool for officer training and U-2 mission planning tools, revealing how the Contingency Airborne Reconnaissance System supports theater commanders. OLS staff oversaw the design, obtained funding, and, through diligent self-help, created a $250,000 SOC facility where students have access to National Security Agency network feeds.

And finally, the OLS staff directed a simulation architecture plan to integrate Goodfellow into the 21st century Joint Simulation and Modeling network, allowing artificial intelligence interface and global participation with major force exercises.

OLS eliminates the hidden costs in saved man-years and dollars not required by field units for readiness training of incoming personnel. OLS responds to the need of the combatant commands for realistic, “hands-on” training with this multi-AFSC top-off exercise.

Prior to OLS, students received only podium instruction on supporting and conducting joint and combined air and space operations. Officers and enlisted students were not trained together. Perhaps the greatest success of the OLS story is the involvement of TDY volunteers in OLS from twelve different operational units. Primarily flying crews, they provided additional realism and invaluable insight for mission planning and briefings.

OLS staff actions have earned praise, not only from participants but also from senior Air Force and national leaders.

The benefit of OLS efforts was aptly put by a former A2 from the Vicenza Combined Air Operations Center now controlling the air war in Serbia, “At the CAOC I could readily determine which of the newcomers were Lone Star graduates ... they hit the ground running.”

Realistic training has an immediate payback. Only a few weeks ago, OLS received a very gratifying phone call.

A recent officer intelligence graduate called back from deployment. He used the lessons learned in Lone Star and applied them in his B-2 crew briefings. His commander wanted to pass on the unit’s thanks.

It seems SAM ambuscade avoidance tactics taught in Lone Star were put to use and directly helped save a B-2 crew on the first night of the air war over Serbia. As instructors, this tells us we’re training right; it made our day!