Alaska's mountain-tops provide rare training challenges to Japanese missile team

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shawn J. Jones
  • Red Flag-Alaska Public Affairs
Six Japanese airmen stood atop an Alaskan mountain, firing mock surface-to-air missiles at Spanish fighter jets as part of the Red Flag-Alaska training exercise July 24. 

Red Flag-Alaska is a dynamic air combat exercise, but the advanced training isn't only for aircrew. 

The JASDF missile operations team is able to practice its ground-based air-defense missile system against a contingent of aircrew from five other nations. The training has the dual effect of familiarizing aircrew on surface-to-air threats. 

The mountainous terrain of the Pacific Alaska Range Complex, America's largest training range, offers the missile team a natural landscape much different than that of their home station, Tsuiki Air Base, in southwest Japan. 

A distinct tactical challenge of the mountain-top training at Red Flag-Alaska is related to the missile operator's visual span of responsibility. On level terrain, the missile team must be alert of all threats in the airspace above the horizon. While atop a mountain, that span of responsibility expands to include the airspace below the horizon as well, said 2nd Lt. Akira Minami, a missile operations officer. 

Another challenge occurs when a target flies below the horizon or in front of another mountain. The JASDF missile team uses man-portable, shoulder-fired air-defense systems to fire Type 91, SAM-2 surface-to-air missiles, which are similar to American FIM-92 Stinger missiles. Upon launch, the missile locks onto the target's image profile to track the target. 

It is significantly more difficult for the SAM-2 missile to acquire and track a target's image profile within a diverse terrain environment than it is in clear skies, said Lieutenant Minami. 

The Pacific Alaska Range Complex and the multinational participation make Red Flag-Alaska a realistic, dynamic air combat exercise set in a safe and controlled format.