Altus AFB supports Fort Sill training

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kenneth W. Norman
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Altus AFB is currently hosting U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Sill, Okla. as they complete a Patriot missile culmination training event Oct. 11-21.

The 4th Battalion 3rd Air Defense Artillery, Fort Sill, Okla., brought two Patriot missile batteries and about 250 soldiers to Altus AFB to complete a five-day training event to test communications between multiple battery sites and dispersed equipment. No missiles will be fired during this equipment training and only communication equipment will be tested.

"This training allows us the opportunity to see how our equipment will work when there is a distance applied between the systems," said U.S. Army Maj. Jay Taylor, 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade public affairs officer, Fort Sill. "It exercises our communications hierarchy and allows us the ability to operate at a distance that we don't normally get."

Just as the Air Force helps support the Army in contingencies around the world, Altus AFB is supporting Fort Sill soldiers by providing them a very realistic simulated combat environment.

"This training is important because it allows our battalion to deploy to Altus - meaning move away from Fort Sill and add some dimension to the training exercise," Taylor said. "It gives us an opportunity to change our individual and section level training into a robust battalion level training event."

The Patriot missile systems used in this exercise are the same systems being used in contingencies around the world.

"This training will exercise tactics, techniques and procedures that we use in a deployed environment to ensure that we can accomplish our missions quickly and more effectively," Taylor said. "We routinely work in a joint deployed-operational environment so any chance to exercise that before a real deployment is a good training opportunity."

There will be increased traffic during the set-up and tear down of the soldiers training area, said Jeffrey Arnold, 97th Logistics Readiness Squadron chief of plans and integration. Arnold is asking all base residents and visitors to have patience with the Army convoys while they drive around base and the local area.