Northern Edge
Northern Edge 2004
More than 9,000 Airmen, Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Coast Guardsmen from active duty, reserve and National Guard units participated in Northern Edge 2004, which focused on air-centric tactics and procedures with an emphasis on air-to-air, air-to-ground, and on personnel recovery operations in remote areas of the Pacific Alaska Range Complex near Fairbanks, Alaska and over water in the Gulf. Aircraft participated from the USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, several fighter units from Pacific Air Forces, robust aerial tanker support, multi-service helicopter support, and a fighter unit from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.
Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 225 participated in Northern Edge 2004. They participated in a variety of missions. Including close air support, defensive counter air exercises, maritime integration, special operations and personnel recovery operations. In addition to testing the readiness of military forces, the training helped Marine aircrews to practice their vital missions in a joint-service environment.
USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), was among was part of of the exercise and successfully concluded Operation Northern Edge 2004 in June. Along with aircraft from the Stennis Strike Group, several other fighter units participated, including the Pacific Air Forces, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from Okinawa, Japan, and other air wings from around the world. Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 14 from USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) was operating for the first time with Air Combat Maneuver Instrumentation (ACMI) pods. The ACMI pods were being used on Navy F-14 Tomcats, as well as on the Air Force F-15 Eagles during the exercise.
This was the first time that the Navy had been able to use Air Force active pods during an exercise. This was due to restrictions to the pods themselves. The pods helped measure the aircraft attitude, altitude, and what the pilot was doing - as far as his engagements - while the entire operation was tracked by the pod. Information from the data-recording device on the pod was gathered after all the planes landed and were played back. The actual interface of the aircraft, ACMI, analyzed how well the plan worked, and how the merge happened. The pods were installed on the carrier with a technical advisor there to assist.
Elmendorf Air Force Base Pod Shop handles the installation, repair and maintenance of the pods. Elmendorf owns more than 60 pods, and CVW-14 used eight of them during the exercise. The pods are installed on any weapons launcher that can hold and AIM-9 missile. For the Navy version, the pod shop had to customize a hardened point where the pod is attached to enhance pod durability, and to accommodate conditions carrier aircraft endure. The pods nose cone was made with stainless steel instead of cast aluminum. The modification of the nose cone for the Navy was actually being done for all the Air Force pods.
During the training, the blue force (good guys), composed of Navy, Marine and Air Force fighter aircraft, went up against an OPFOR [opposition force] made up of F-15 Eagle aircraft from Elmendorf, Alaska, and Mountain Home, Idaho. Back on land, Marines provided command and control for close-air support missions in the Pacific Alaska Range Complex PARC, where ranges were staged with a variety of structures, vehicles and equipment for aircraft, to target with both live and inert ordnance. Also on the PARC, Army and Air Force special operation forces practiced personnel recovery tactics, such as rescuing a downed pilot from a high threat area without the use of a helicopter. They also provided their own OPFOR to enhance the realism of the training.
Northern Edge, which is traditionally held in the cold weather months, was moved to June this year to accommodate the worldwide scheduling of combat forces and availability of the carrier strike group. Though most flight operations went according to plan, naval aviators frequently operated in low visibility conditions with thick cloud ceilings over the Gulf.
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