Allied Air Command specialists participated in Missile Defence exercise

RAMSTEIN, Germany - Fifteen officers and non-commissioned officers from Allied Air Command contributed their expertise to binational Netherlands/German exercise Joint Project Optic Windmill which concluded last week.

During Joint Project Optic Windmill exercise staff focused on training situations at unit, tactical and operational levels over a crisis-to-conflict timeline. For the staff from the Allied Air Command Headquarters, the two Combined Air Operations Centres and the Deployable Air Command and Control Centre, the multinational exercise was an ideal opportunity to conduct planning and exercise their skills. They gained further expertise in providing Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) command and control including for the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) mission.

"This was the first time that Joint Project Optic Windmill exercised the Air Command and Control structures to deliver IAMD for a Joint Force including the integration between the NATO BMD mission, upper layer and lower layer Theatre BMD and air-breathing threats within a Joint Operating Area controlled by the NATO Command Structure Joint Force Air Component,” said Group Captain Richard Niven, Director of the Joint Force Air Component for the exercise. "It couldn’t have gone better; we operated completely safely and reliably with a challenging and high-tempo threat scenario during the exercise. The pre-coordinated criteria ensured that all critical points were defended. This enabled the tactical command and control units to deliver excellent battlespace management to maximise weapon-to-target matching to defeat the complete range of threats.”

Story by Allied Air Command Public Affairs Office

officers and NCOs from Allied Air Command contributed their subject matter expertise to binational Netherlands/German exercise Joint Project Optic Windmill