Unified Engagement 06 comes to an end

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Tom Czerwinski
  • PACAF Public Affairs
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii --  In what has been deemed one of the largest multi-force, multi-national wargame simulations in the Pacific, Unified Engagement 2006 came to an end here Thursday. 

During the past week, more than 300 military and civilian members from five countries gathered at the Command Battle Training Center here to take part in one of two of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's wargames that used a fictitious scenario set 12 to 15 years into the future. 

Through cooperation between the U.S. Air Force and services from the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, UE-06 was deemed a success. 

"Unified Engagement, led by the Air Force, was a tremendous opportunity for joint services to sit down with our great friends and allies across the Pacific, especially those from Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada," said Lt. Gen. Chip Utterback, commander of 13th Air Force. "This series of events not only exposed participants to joint and coalition operations and the difficulties that come along with those operations, but also allowed them to look at potential capabilities and personnel shortfalls, and how to better work with partner nations through the full spectrum of conflict 12 to 15 years in the future." 

The fact UE was set in the future was an important element for the participating countries, because it allowed the United States and its allies to think about future force structures and how well they can work together in concert. 

"It was a very important event for Australia," said Vice Air Marshall, John Quaife, Australian Combined Joint Task Force commander. "The fact our key planners rehearsed, practiced and had exposure to their counterparts will allow us to work smoothly when we go to execute our next operations (together)." 

The participants from the countries involved in UE-06 had a significant role exploring and exploiting different operational concepts during the eight-day event. 

"For Canada it has been a great opportunity, because we are in midst of significant force development activity for the entire Canadian force and we are quite busy developing new concepts and capabilities that will be rolling out over the next 10 to 12 years - so the timing here is good," said Canadian Air Force Brig. Gen. Pierre Forgues, head of Canadian force development. 

The Pacific theater was chosen to host this year's UE-06 by the CSAF, because of the unique challenges that occur from many nations working together in a region to further its stability and security. 

"Our president called this the 'Century of the Pacific,'" said General Utterback. "Historically UE is held at a strategic level, so the benefit of having UE-06 here in the Pacific is that we took the game to the warfighter. The results will help us make decisions to structure our force for the future."

The capstone event was not the only part of UE-06. During the past year, UE included a series of small scale events and seminars held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in May and most recently the North East Asian Seminar held at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in September. 

These small scale events brought together military leaders from 10 different countries to exchange ideas and apply them to a variety of fictitious, operational scenarios such as terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. 

Participants for these events came from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom and United States. Observers included Brunei, Philippines, India and Pakistan.