USJFCOMLive

A NATO air-to-surface combat identification working group came through Camp Lejeune today for a site visit to some of the locations involved in Bold Quest 09.  Jean-Phillipe Saulay, head of the Navigation and Identification Section, part of NATO’s operations staff, led the group of warfighters and civilians from the alliance’s 28 member countries.

There is a big group working this combat ID from 28 NATO nations, trying to figure out interoperability solutions, developing common solutions, and standardizing these solutions.  We have been following all of the Quest events for a couple of years now.  They give us very good feedback and research as to what we are doing.

Saulay and his group started their visit at LZ Lark, which largely consists of the tactical operating system of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment.  Members of the group were given a tour of the many different technologies being used, tested, demonstrated and assessed at BQ 09.  Each piece of technology had an accompanying brief from someone involved in its development, and some included live demonstrations, including the loud cracks of simulated IEDs.  As one popped behind us, Saulay told me a big reason for the group’s visit was to get an idea for what the coalition members involved in Bold Quest – all of them members of the alliance – were looking toward in the world of CID.

The members of the group are also the players in the experimentation.  The French Air Force guys, the industry guys that are here with their systems.  The same is [true] for Germany and all the nations.  They are members of the group interested in working the standards.  They are also interested in working the real gear here on the test range.  The second interest is it’s a very good opportunity to see some of the technology that we do not see on a day-to-day basis.  Some of the technology is not on our scope … Here is a huge opportunity to see the systems, how they work, and see a couple demonstrations and get a really concrete picture of what’s going on.

With NATO currently involved in operations in Afghanistan, Saulay said demonstrations and exercises like Bold Quest are important to the alliance’s success, because it gives the nations involved the opportunity to ensure their systems both work well and are able to work together.  He said a location like Lejeune is an ideal place to test these systems, especially because they need to be tested for interoperability before they are delivered to diverse militaries’ warfighters on the battlefield.

Right now, we are nowhere, but it’s peaceful and we can do a lot of work.  Right now, NATO is in Afghanistan and we are almost ready with some of the systems where you try to connect one system with another system from another organization and find out it’s not working.  “What is going on?  What’s wrong?”  This is imporant because we can validate a lot of different problems and issues and everyone can work together on that.

We’ll have photos from of the group’s visit taken by Air Force Staff Sgt. Vanessa Valentine linked here soon.  Continue following us here on the blog for more stories, pictures and videos of Bold Quest 09’s ongoing operations.