TAC MOBILE Deploys in Support of Destined Glory 2005
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS051010-06
Release Date: 10/10/2005 10:41:00 PM
By Journalist 1st Class Eric Brown, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- Although Tactical Mobile Europe (TAC MOBILE) deployed aboard USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) is small – numbering two officers and 10 enlisted Sailors – they are making a large impact on the annual NATO exercise Destined Glory (Loyal Midas) 2005.
These Sailors from Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella, Sicily, are manning the ship’s Joint Operations Center (JOC), along with the ship’s maintainers and members of other NATO nations participating in the exercise, creating a near real-time integrated surface, subsurface and air picture. This allows Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STIKFORNATO) exercise planners and decision makers to “instantly have situational awareness of what’s going on,” explained Lt. Cmdr. John Troyanos, officer in the charge of TAC MOBILE.
“USS Mount Whitney brings the capabilities and technicians, while TAC MOBILE brings the operators to the warfighting staff. When STRIKFORNATO embarks, TAC MOBILE fits in very nicely with operators and maintainers work in tandem with USS Mount Whitney, so when the staff come aboard they can ‘plug and fight.’”
Destined Glory (Loyal Midas) 2005 is a crisis response exercise that began Sept. 29 in the Thyrrenian Sea and adjoining Italian island of Sardinia, with 8,500 personnel, 40 ships and 60 aircraft involved. The 10 participating NATO countries are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The exercise will conclude Oct. 14.
“We use an Air Defense System Integrator and Joint Range Extension capabilities, designed to bring a radar surveillance picture from other command and control platforms,” Troyanos said. “For example, an E-3 airborne warning and control system aircraft could be flying with their radar system, and they would see everything that is in their surveillance volume, and share that with us at 8–12 second update rates. We share that among the force, so that we have breadth and depth coverage of a large surveillance area.”
This area of coverage can be as small as 20 square miles, or as large as 256 square miles.
During the exercise, TAC MOBILE is standing up a joint data network operations capability, combining the United States’ data link assets with those of NATO.
“This is a first for NATO – they have never seen this before,” Troyanos noted.
Making the U.S and NATO systems work together has been “an extreme challenge,” he said. “If you look at the NATO’s quality of the data, not the quantity, data fidelity is not where it needs to be to support an operational level of command.
“Part of our objective here is to demonstrate the difference between near-real time, and non-real time information, and show the commander how we can improve the picture, using existing technologies.”
Other members of TAC MOBILE, as well as Mount Whitney JOC technicians, described the challenge of making the systems operate together.
“The hardest part was combining different links themselves, but I have been able to use the expertise of the USS Mount Whitney Sailors to help overcome these obstacles and make the link work,” recalled Operations Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Edmond Stevens, a TAC MOBILE link tech.
TAC MOBILE is a new organization, transformed out of the Navy Center for Tactical Systems Interoperability, Det. 4; the Joint Mobile Ashore Terminal; and the Portable Equipment Pool, all headquartered in Sigonella. TAC MOBILE operates under Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Commander, 6th Fleet.
“We are taking existing capabilities, and looking at how we can better do our job without growing,” Troyanos said. “We’re not growing – we’re actually decreasing in our manning, by about 9 percent. The reduction in billets is a plus, and aligns itself with Navy transformation.
While their working relationship is scheduled to end soon, the officer in charge hopes to see them again next year.
“We are already looking forward to ‘Brilliant Midas,’ the Destined Glory exercise scheduled for 2006,” Troyanos said.
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