NAVAIR China Lake/Point Mugu Weapons Division
By Cliff Lawson
NAVAIR was a principal player in Fleet Battle Experiment-Juliet (FBE-Juliet), conducted several months ago as part of Millennium Challenge 2002 (MC02). MC02 was the largest joint experiment ever, spanning three time zones and involving more than 13,500 personnel.

Spanning 1,723-square-mile land range and a 36,000-square-mile sea range, all highly instrumented and under military-controlled airspace, this provided a real-world-sized combat scenario.

NAVAIR engineers linked six U.S. Western Ranges—Army, Navy, and Air Force—into a single network run from the Interoperability Test and Evaluation Center at Point Mugu, CA. The precursor to the U.S. Joint Forces Command’s Joint National Training Centers network carried voice, video, and tracking data to the Joint Exercise Control Group in Norfolk, VA.

A principal network node was the Strike Warfare Command Center—call sign Alpha Papa—in China Lake’s Integrated Battlespace Arena. Using emergent technologies not yet available to the Fleet, Alpha Papa simulated year 2007 battlespace capabilities and linked service-specific systems to present a common operational picture. Alpha Papa controlled live and simulated tactical air strikes on the NAVAIR land range.

Action was fast and furious as the FBE-Juliet scenario—several nations on the verge of a major theater war—unfolded on NAVAIR’s ranges.

A SH-60 from USS Boxer prosecuted several high-speed, maneuverable seaborne targets on the sea range; USS Benfold made the calls for fire. This operation was supported by the Cast Glance airborne photographic system and an NP-3D sensor platform. Shapes and RF emitters on San Nicolas Island simulated threat missile systems.

Small target boats attacked ships on the sea range. The boats also supported Navy SEALs in a helicopter boarding operation that included the use of a Sentry unmanned aerial vehicle.

Lockheed Martin’s Sea Slice vessel fired its 35-mm Millennium Gun and launched a test vehicle from a Netfires Loiter-Attack-Missile launcher.

From Laguna Peak (near Point Mugu), a UYX-4 Specific Emitter Identification system, sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory, identified and tracked Sea Range participants.

TACAIR flights on the land range dropped live ordnance, while EA-6Bs collected standoff data and S-3B tankers serviced the TACAIR missions.

Army air mobile and special operations forces staged a deep attack from Fort Irwin against targets on the land range. The Army helicopters were challenged by simulated relocatable NAVAIR threat air-defense systems.

In the Mojave Desert at Superior Valley on the land range, a special operations force set up unattended ground sensors, developed by DARPA. The sensors transmitted intelligence on tracked vehicle traffic to a loitering Navy NP-3D aircraft, which relayed the data to Alpha Papa.

Participating aircraft were supported from Point Mugu and China Lake’s Armitage Field. An RQ-2 Pioneer UAV operating from San Nicolas Island which provided the USS Coronado with video intelligence on threats in the battlespace. Video feed from a Predator was displayed in Alpha Papa throughout the event.

Based on recommendations from MC02 and FBE-Juliet, the U.S. military will continue its warfighting, budget, acquisition, and programmatic transformation.

The result will be a joint force capable of achieving rapid victory by destroying the enemy’s ability and will to fight.