Allied forces rehearse the next war in the Alaska wilderness

Over two weeks this spring, more than 2,100 troops and 75 aircraft from four allied nations converged on the Alaska wilderness for one of the military's largest training exercises — and a small group of Alaska-based airmen used it to rehearse what their job looks like in a future war.

Red Flag-Alaska, which ran late May into June across 120,000 square miles of interior Alaska, is a recurring war game staged out of Eielson and JBER. This year's edition drew forces from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and New Zealand, plus more than 300 paratroopers from the 11th Airborne. At the center of it were Tactical Air Control Party airmen — the specialists who direct airpower onto targets from the ground — from Alaska's own 20th Air Support Operations Squadron, testing a broader role than they've traditionally held.

The shift is about survival on a modern battlefield. Rather than simply attaching to Army units and calling in strikes, the airmen practiced acting as sensors themselves: flying small drones, running electronic warfare, and feeding real-time targeting data in conditions where communications are jammed or degraded. "

We contributed as one of the only assets capable of collecting real-time targeting data in a hostile and degraded environment," said Capt. Peter Kosierowski, describing teams that now share the load across sensing, jamming, and advanced communications.

Alaska's vast, empty ranges are what make this possible — space to fly, jam, and drop paratroopers at a scale few places allow, which is why allied militaries send observers to watch and weigh joining future rounds.