• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

CJTF-HOA conducts supporting arms training exercise

USMC News

Story Identification Number: 200332173150
Story by CJTF-HOA Public Affairs

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti(March 21, 2003) -- Forces from Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) conducted a Supporting Arms Training Exercise (SATEX) Tuesday that included naval surface fire and aerial bombardment at Godoria Range in northern Djibouti.

About 50 personnel, representing all U.S. armed services, along with coalition partners from five nations, called in naval gunfire from the Spanish frigate, SMS Canarias (F 86) and controlled aerial bombing runs from B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.

The goal of the training was to enhance coalition coordination of aviation and maritime strike assets.

The exercise represents the third time CJTF-HOA has integrated fixed-wing air and sea-based assets in a live fire scenario.

SPS Canarias, with its 76 mm naval guns, provided direct-fire support, firing 24 rounds during the exercise.

Forward air controllers guided B-52's as they unleashed a total of nine 750-pound inert, or practice, bombs onto designated targets.

In coordinating and controlling the exercise, CJTF-HOA forces also enhanced communications capabilities by establishing a network that linked forces at Godoria Range with operations centers aboard SPS Canarias and USS Mount Whitney in the Gulf of Aden, pilots flying the aircraft and the Ambouli Airport control tower in Djibouti.

SPS Canarias, currently assigned to the 10-ship international flotilla, Combined Task Force 150, operating in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, is equipped with a variety of missiles and torpedoes suited primarily for anti-submarine warfare missions. It is also armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles.

The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber capable of high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet. The airplane can carry approximately 70,000 pounds of ordnance, including bombs, mines and missiles.

B52s are also highly effective aircraft for ocean surveillance. Two B-52s, in two hours, can monitor 140,000 square miles of ocean surface.

The principal mission of CJTF-HOA is to detect, disrupt and defeat transnational terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa region and support Coalition partner efforts to deny the opportunity for reemergence of terrorist networks.

The CJTF headquarters was formed to oversee operations in the Horn of Africa for U.S. Central Command, in support of the Global War on Terrorism. The 400-member headquarters is embarked aboard one of the U.S. Navy's most sophisticated command and control ships, USS Mount Whitney, home-ported in Norfolk, Va.

CJTF-HOA also has nearly 1,300 personnel stationed ashore at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti and a small number of liaison personnel working in other parts of the region.