Missile defense experts meet in Hawaii

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Chris Vadnais
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) --  Missile defense experts from all over the Pacific theater met here for the 2007 Joint Interface Control Officer (JICO) conference.

Attendees included Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen from Japan, Hawaii and California. Most of the missile defense experts have worked together virtually, but a conference like this gives them the chance to interact face to face.

"Phone and email, teleconference, they're all good tools, but nothing can replace the networking that you get done face to face," said Lt. Cmdr. Chuck Davenport, a JICO from the Navy's 3rd Fleet in San Diego.

"You get to know the individual that you're working with," he said. "You get to know what that person's character is so you can forge a stronger working relationship."

This is the second missile defense conference at Hickam. The first was held last year, partly in response to real-world events.

In July 2006, North Korea test-fired seven missiles, including the long range Taepodong-2. In the fall, Pyongyang exploded its first nuclear device. For the United States and its partners in the Pacific, these acts emphasized the importance of a Pacific theater ballistic missile defense system.

The JICO conference fosters joint teamwork by bringing members of different services together to work toward the shared goal of planning and implementing ballistic missile defense.

"None of us can stand alone," said Lt. Col. Harold Weimer, deputy commander of 13th Air Force, Japan. "It takes everybody; it takes a joint fight wherever we go," he said.

Brig. Gen. John Seward, commander of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, opened the conference by stressing the importance of joint efforts. He said the key to effective ballistic missile defense is cooperation between the military services.
"It's kind of like a football team," he said. "Everybody brings their own skills--their own assets--to the game. Maybe the Army's got good blocking and the Air Force might have a guy who can throw a pass, but if you don't work together and practice, you're never going to be that team that's going to win a game."

"You have to work it together and spend that time now so that when we do have a contingency, people know each other," he said. "They know who's on the other end of that phone and they can make things happen."

U.S. Pacific Command is taking a lead role in ballistic missile defense, as the only theater with an air and missile defense command.

General Seward said the knowledge that experts share here in Hawaii won't stay here.

"We can take the lessons learned in this theater and apply them in other theaters across the globe," he said.