'Combat Shield' helps Wolf Pack reinforce electronic warfare capabilities

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stephen Collier
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  The 8th Fighter Wing "Wolf Pack" initiated Combat Shield May 7 as part of the wing's ability to maintain a constant deterrent against North Korean aggression.

  Combat Shield, an electronic warfare assessment program hosted by the 53rd Electronic Warfare Group, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., primarily assists wing commanders in determining a unit's level of electronic warfare readiness. Throughout the week-long program, Maj. Tim Harms, 53rd EWG Combat Shield officer, said the point of Combat Shield is to provide a "leave behind" program for maintenance, aircrews and wings in general to take advantage of. 

  "What we're here to do is support combat situational awareness through the electronic warfare mission," said Major Harms, who has more than 20 years experience with electronic warfare. "Because avionics Airmen are focused on getting sorties out like other maintainers, they may not see what we see day in and day out. Electronic warfare tends to be the last thing they worry about because of the mission and operations tempo. What we feed into is combat survivability." 

  Combat Shield officials stress the assessment is not a test, evaluation or inspection of a unit's electronic warfare components, countermeasure pods and radar warning receivers. Rather, Combat Shield officials thoroughly review the systems to ensure they are fully-mission capable. 

  The pods and RWRs are also checked for anomalies that can surface after an aircraft returns from flight. Even though F-16s are capable of pulling nine-G maneuvers, cables and wiring within the aircraft, over time, can suffer from fatigue. And wiring within each pod, together with determining any flaws within the systems, is an area of concern for Staff Sgt. Jesse Bailey, Combat Shield ground crew maintainer. 

  "Pretty much what we do is to find hidden faults that can't be found on the flightline," Sergeant Bailey said. "We have tools they generally don't have out here. We use antenna couplers which mount to the aircraft's antenna. With these, we send threats from our computers, mimicking those of real world enemies to determine if the aircraft is tracking exactly what we feed it. Our hope is the [8th Fighter] wing will get more capable aircraft out of Combat Shield as well as make the pilots feel a little safer." 

  But electronic warfare systems at Kunsan, according to Col. Joseph "Phoenix" Swillum, 8th Maintenance Group commander, are already up to par, giving Combat Shield experts what he says "not much to find." 

  "Because of April's (Operational Readiness Inspection), our aircraft have already been through a thorough review, to include electronic warfare pods," Colonel Swillum said. "We are glad the Combat Shield folks could come out and review the way we do electronic warfare, but with the excellent job our maintenance folks did during the ORI, we should be in tip-top shape." 

  Responding to increased deployments and aligning itself with the air expeditionary force model, the Combat Shield program has steadily transitioned to supporting the Total Force with electronic warfare requirements. During wartime, the 53rd EWG, according to the Eglin AFB guide, provides emergency reprogramming of electronic warfare systems mission data. The 53rd also supports Combat Shield measures during annual Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.