Air Ops Center wraps up Valiant Shield play

  • Published
  • By Capt Yvonne Levardi
  • Kenney Headquarters Public Affairs
Nearly 2,000 sorties later, the Kenney Headquarters’ Pacific Air Operations Center team, assembled to orchestrate air operations for Valiant Shield, called it good. 

“We had a very successful exercise,” said Major Paul Hahn, KHQ PAOC Combat Operations Division. “This was a great opportunity to practice joint interoperability with our Navy counterparts as if it were a real-world situation.” 

About 35 Navy personnel deployed to Hickam during the June 19-23 exercise to create the joint team. 

“We’re very excited about Valiant Shield because it’s an opportunity to interface large numbers of our air and sea forces together in a very unique environment and to work out some of what we call frictions,” said Lt. Gen. David Deptula, KHQ Commander. “Karl Von Clausewitz talked about the ‘frictions of warfare’ and that’s very true when you get into any kind of operational event; you find out things that might not go as you would have anticipated or planned. These types of exercises allow us to work out those challenges in advance.” 

Valiant Shield, formerly known as JASEX, is one of the largest annual exercises in the Western Pacific and this year involved about 30 ships, 280 aircraft, and 22,000 Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Marines working together to enhance joint combat skills and interoperability. 

Although operations for the exercise will be conducted in the vicinity of Guam, the joint forces air component commander – General Deptula – conducted air operations from the KHQ PAOC. 

“I am the JFACC for Admiral Gary Roughead, (Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet) who is the joint task force commander for this exercise,” General Deptula said. “My role in this whole organization is designed to apply planning and execution and monitoring and assessment techniques for all of the air forces involved in the exercise.” 

Kenney Headquarters, activated June 1, 2005, is designed to provide the Commander, Pacific Command, a headquarters that can step in as JFACC should the need arise. 

“In KHQ, we basically plan and then orchestrate the application of all of the air activities (for an operation or exercise) regardless of service,” General Deptula said. “So for Valiant Shield, I work for Admiral Roughead in that regard – my deputy is a Navy 2-star Admiral. Quite frankly, we’re not interested in what Navy or Air Force airplanes are doing separately – we take the approach that airpower is airpower and we’re interested in ensuring we take a unified stance in working those assets together with our sea based assets in achieving the commander’s overall objectives.”

The exercise, conducted in the vicinity of Guam, focused on integrated joint training among U.S. military forces. About 800 Airmen and a mix of more than 50 Air Force fighters, bombers, mobility and support aircraft participated in the event.