YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- The annual Far East Tactics Analysis Team conference, which brings together defense operations and intelligence representatives from six countries, was held at Yokota Air Base, Japan, September 9-13.
The event was hosted by the U.S. Fifth Air Force Intelligence Division, and for the first time participants hailed from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Canadian Armed Forces.
“These conferences allow a free exchange of ideas, developing relationships and growing an understanding of how we can better work together as a cohesive unit in the air and ground,” said Douglas Young, Pacific Air Forces A2 operations and analysis weapons and tactics senior analyst.
The history of the FETAT conference goes back to late 1942. It was recognized that there was a need for specialized personnel skilled in collecting and analyzing captured enemy equipment. The Allies in the Pacific theatre were keen to learn as much as possible about their opponents' equipment. In November 1942, a joint group with members from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Air Forces, RAAF, and Royal Navy was formed at Eagle Farms, near Brisbane, Australia. The unit absorbed a small team from the Directorate of Intelligence, HQ Allied Forces. The unit was called the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit .
Technical intelligence units evaluated enemy materiel to determine what counter measures were required as well as ascertaining the state of development of enemy production. The units also prepared literature and information for troops to assist them in countering the enemy weapons, and they retained any captured materiel so that further study might be done on the objects. 82 years later, the ATAIU evolved into what we now know as FETAT.
This year’s conference boasted several firsts, including the first time all Five Eyes (FVEY) partners participated and the largest number of participants in the conference’s history.
“With a complicated security situation here in the Indo-Pacific, you can never have too many friends so getting more people involved is always a good thing,” said Loc Ho, National Air and Space Intelligence Center aerospace engineer.
Participants created collaborative working groups of analysts and pilots to study current air operations and air defense intelligence on specific potential peer-adversary threat tactics, techniques, and procedures.
The groups spent the week developing reports and advisories for their topics, which will drive updates to the threat and tactics guides of each nation to address the rapidly changing security environment, highlighting potential challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
The team, charged with deepening mutual understanding of the challenges present in the region and finding ways to seamlessly integrate allied operations, took their findings on a week-long ‘roadshow’ to four different installations after the event. The reports were shared with in-theater intelligence analysts and operators who may one day come face-to-face with adversaries.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael Oliver, F-22 Raptor pilot, attended the conference for the first time this year. He was impressed by the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to develop the briefs that will be shared around the theater.
“When you put operators in the room, you have people from different countries who are now looking at these things from different perspectives and you can now come up with pretty high confidence assessments of where we think our adversary is,” said Oliver.
The U.S. is joining together with like-minded Indo-Pacific allies and partners in ways that strengthen peace and security across the region, increasingly through bilateral and multilateral security efforts. It will take a combined effort with the U.S. and other nations working together to deter aggression or prevail if conflict comes.
FETAT serves as an opportunity to increase interoperability, information-sharing, and access with allies and partners across the globe to enhance our capabilities and improve coordination for competition.
“It is incredibly important to have all of our mission partners together. Having representatives here allows us to make sure each voice is heard,” Young said. “The U.S. Air Force and partner nations continue in their steadfast commitment to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific region by maintaining partnerships and intelligence operations with likeminded nations and FETAT supports that effort.”