Released: March 11, 2003
New chemical warfare concepts debut at Beale
By Airman Brandi Glass
9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (ACCNS) -- When Saddam Hussein's administration used chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds just before the Gulf War in 1991, more than 5,000 people died.
After this, the Department of Defense realized it was not only a possibility, but a probability, that chemical weapons would be used against American troops, said Maj. John Chittum, a member of the 12-person conversion team tasked by Air Combat Command to provide chemical-warfare training to ACC's 16 wings.
Since Operation Desert Storm, the Air Force has re-examined its plan for responding to a chemical attack. New research has prompted the first major changes to chemical weapons response procedures since they were developed in the 1970s.
"While chemical weapons are every bit as deadly as they've always been, research tells us there are ways of managing the threat while maintaining combat capability," Major Chittum said.
The team provided detailed, mission-specific briefings to many squadrons at Beale AFB, and ended their visit with a tabletop exercise that gave wing leadership the opportunity to talk through a training exercise.
Split-Mission Oriented Protective Posture conditions, new alarm-condition actions and contaminant-avoidance measures are part of the improved counter chemical-weapons concept of operations that will be implemented across ACC in 2004.
"The new concepts will significantly ease the stress of troops after an attack by allowing commanders to decide, based on contamination assessments of smaller areas, not to put an entire base in MOPP-level four," Major Chittum said. In the past, wearing full MOPP gear caused troops to experience heat exhaustion and combat capability to be compromised.
"Testing has shown we can significantly increase combat power and sortie generation this way," he said.
The split-MOPP concept stems from studies that show a chemical attack would most likely not result in base-wide contamination. He said most chemical warheads only release enough agent to affect a small area.
Allowing commanders the discretion to determine protective postures for a base in sectors means troops in unaffected areas will be able to continue operating with less protective gear.
The old "hunker down and wait" strategy practiced in years past was based on outdated Army research, Major Chittum said. The data with which chemical-evaporation times were calculated came from experiments in laboratory conditions. Because chemical agents are actually absorbed by the ground and other surfaces, experts now know evaporation occurs much faster in the operating environment.
Commanders have long used standardized warning signals to posture airbases for attacks, warn of attacks in progress, and signal post-attack recovery actions. Revised attack warning signals now provide commanders with more options. Based on the threat, signals may be declared for the entire base or base sectors.
Changes include:
. "Alarm Green" replaced "All Clear"
. "Alarm Yellow" now signals a probable attack in less than 30 minutes
. "Alarm Red" now includes procedures to alert of a ground attack.
When alarm signals indicate an attack is probable, aircraft and mission-essential equipment will be placed in shelters and covered to prevent exposure. This considerably decreases the need for time-consuming decontamination procedures. A base can then become operational hours, rather than days, after an attack.
Medical-response capabilities are also enhanced by the plan.
"The ability to deem certain areas 'clean' and assign lower MOPP levels to these areas ensures medical personnel an area to operate without the impairment of full MOPP gear," said Maj. Steven Cusack, the 9th Medical Support Squadron medical-readiness officer.
Response operations for biological, radiological and nuclear-weapons attacks are currently being evaluated.
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