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Rest Ops final demonstration yields informative assessment

Feb. 10, 2003

By 1st Lt. Toni Tones
51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea - Upon his arrival here, the Pacific Air Forces Restoration of Operations operation's manager stated he didn't want his team's efforts to impede those of the 51st Fighter Wing and would do everything to minimize their impact on the exercise.

It appears he accomplished what he set out to do.

"We've collected the data needed to provide a complete assessment of the technologies and operations that were tested. We appreciate the support Team Osan gave us through personal observations and by taking time to complete the surveys," said Lt. Col. John Ahern, PACAF RestOps Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration manager.

Ahern said he would work with Brig. Gen. William Holland, 51st Fighter Wing commander, to determine what technologies would be good to leave for the base to continue to use and any additional equipment the wing may need.

"Their (RestOps) interaction with the wing was nearly transparent. With the exception of the 200-plus people in RestOps vests, we didn't even notice their presence," said Holland. "Although there was minimal impact on our exercise, their findings will greatly improve our combat readiness on the peninsula, keeping us ready to fight tonight."

The next step for the RestOps program is approval by the steering committee and Office of the Secretary of Defense.

"We will give our assessment to the RestOps steering committee and the Air Staff and J-8 (Force Restructure) at OSD," added Ahern. "The acquisition process of the technologies will be contingent upon its maturity. If it's well mature, then it can immediately become part of the inventory; if not, then further testing will be accomplished by ODTE (Operations Development, Test and Evaluation).

Osan was selected as the Air Force test site for the five-year program because of its defensive position on the Korean peninsula and its extensive exercise regiment. Pacific Command and Headquarters Pacific Air Forces were the lead agents for the Air Force for the Department of Defense.

The ACTD first visited Osan in February 2001 and has participated in several combat employment readiness exercises over the past two years. The last ACTD demonstration will assess the military utility of several new or improved chemical defense technologies and operational procedures.

"The ultimate goal of RestOps is to improve how quickly we can recover from a chemical or biological attack," said Ahern. "We'll take this information and determine its applicability to other services in DoD." (PACAFNS)