Theater Security Cooperation lays groundwork for PACAF Lines of Operation

  • Published
  • By Bekah Clark
  • Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii --  Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of five articles about Pacific Air Forces Lines of Operation which guide near-term time, money and manpower investment to meet joint warfighter requirements associated with known and emerging threats and hazards.

In a message March 10, Gen. Hawk Carlisle, Pacific Air Forces commander, charged all PACAF Airmen with the responsibility of prioritizing efforts to match our lines of operation, or LOOs.

Theater security cooperation, or TSC; integrated air and missile defense/resiliency; power projection; agile, flexible command and control; and resilient airmen make up PACAF's five LOOs. While all LOOs safeguard our warfighting commitment to U.S. Pacific Command, TSC sets the stage for the rest.

TSC includes all those activities PACAF Airmen conduct with friends, allies and partners to build relationships, to build allied and partner nation capabilities for self-defense and coalition operations, promote specific U.S. interests, and provide U.S. forces with peacetime and contingency access.

"TSC lays the groundwork that sets the stage for and sustains all the LOOs," said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Warner, PACAF Security Cooperation Integration lead.

"For example, our Resilient Airmen LOO requires that PACAF Airmen are combat ready, comprehensively fit and aware, and cross-culturally competent," said Warner. "The best way to become cross-culturally competent is through firsthand interactions with allies and partners through TSC activities."

PACAF enhances its TSC goals through engagements with allies and partners across the region, everything from robust multilateral exercises, to small-scale subject matter expert exchanges in a specific area.

As a result of fiscal constraints and the current security environment, PACAF is focused on trying to build more multilateral engagements, meaning engagements with the U.S. and multiple allies and partners versus an engagement with the U.S. and a single ally or partner.

An example of one such multilateral engagement is Cope North, held at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in February. This year was the exercise's 85th iteration. More than 1,800 service members and approximately 90 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and Royal Australian Air Force came together for this year's field training exercise to improve combat readiness to develop a synergistic disaster response, and increase interoperability. The Republic of Korea Air Force also joined the other nations to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, or HA/DR, training.

Exercises like Cope North build relationships that will enable smoother, more efficient cooperation during future exercises and real-world contingencies alike, according to Maj. Samved Patel, PACAF international affairs strategist.

Because the Asia-Pacific region lacks a treaty similar to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U.S. often serves as a central coordination point of sorts in what Patel likened to a hub-and-spoke system.

"The U.S. has many alliances and partnerships in the region; many other countries do not. For some countries, the U.S. is the only foreign country with which they have a treaty," said Patel. "Because of that, many countries use PACAF as a conduit to coordinate with other countries."

"If we can achieve the face-to-face interactions and cooperation in a collaborative learning environment, like an exercise, that may open doors for some countries to coordinate directly during real-world contingencies," he said.

Multilateral engagements offer many benefits, even though having more parties involved can mean a more complex planning environment.

Patel added that "individually, a country's capability might be insufficient to respond to a contingency, but when countries work together the mission can be executed successfully."

According to Maj. Trevor Cook, also a PACAF international affairs strategist, a multilateral response to a single event ties all regional security interests together, since participating countries are extremely motivated stakeholders who are highly interested in the successful outcome of the operation.

For example, because of their long-standing partnership, the U.S., working through the Philippine government, was able to rapidly respond with critically needed capabilities and supplies during Operation Damayan. Multiple allies in the region, especially Japan, and Australia, stepped up to help a neighbor in need during Operation Damayan, the HA/DR following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
"The knowledge, common training and common equipment shared during multilateral engagements builds interoperability, maximizing the group's collective capabilities," said Cook.

According to Cook, that interoperability is a win-win solution that directly translates into saving more lives and learning how to operate more cost effectively.

For example, "if you have multiple countries participating with C-130s, they don't each need to bring their maintainers, their support teams and their supply chains to respond to a crisis," said Patel. "Instead -- if you know how to work together -- you can share support and logistics, reducing costs and freeing up resources to support their home station mission or other ongoing contingencies."

It's through this type of cooperation that PACAF and its allies and partners are collectively able to maintain peace and stability in the region.

"PACAF has devoted resources to multiple major and smaller scale contingencies, and several large HA/DR efforts," said General Carlisle. "With continued, deliberate use of resources, we'll be able to continue to do that as a staunch partner in the Asia-Pacific region for years to come."