Pierside Warfare Tech Leading 7th Fleet Units while Going "Green"

SASEBO, Japan (NNS) -- A 7th Fleet-sponsored Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) exercise May 3-6 provided units spread across thousands of miles the opportunity to join the same virtual battle scenario, while minimizing the effects live training on the environment and saving money.

Though not intended to replace live training, joint-coalition FST exercise, Coral Dagger, demonstrates how this technology is being employed.

Participants of the initiative included members of 7th Fleet's task forces, USS George Washington (CVN 73), USS Essex (LHD 2) and several Japan-based destroyers, amphibious ships and supporting units that were physically located in Japan and Australia. Meanwhile, game controllers from the Tactical Training Group Pacific (TTGP) that designed the scenario, managed the operation from San Diego.

The game controllers provided a complicated scenario to measure the participant's ability to operate as a strike force. The situation involved a large coalition naval expeditionary strike force (ESF) approaching a coastline vaguely similar to Northeastern Australia. The strike force had to fights its way through a hostile "Kamarian" naval force before completing its mission – an amphibious assault into the small nation of "Northern Legais" – that demanded coordinating fire and movement while a land component assaulted the country from the opposite direction.

FST events are geared to provide a robust war-gaming experience to the fleet regardless of location, allowing players to respond as if they were underway, sitting at their watch stations.

"The great value of synthetic training is that the complexity can be scaled, and can be structured to present far more challenging tactical scenarios than can be achieved underway, especially in today's austere fiscal environment," said TTGP's coordinator for this event, Cmdr. Eric Phipps.

Additionally, because of on board maintenance, watch teams from USS Cowpens (CG 63) and USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) took part from a state-of-the-art TTGP facility in Yokosuka, Japan.

Integrated joint players included the Oregon Air National Guard's 116th Air Control Squadron, Army's I Corp Fwd, 3rd Battlefield Coordination Detachment (BCD), 65th Fire Brigade and 607th Air Support Operations Group (ASOG) played roles within the scenario.

Coalition forces were represented by the Australian Amphibious Task Group Commander (COMAUSATG) and staff, as well as the HMAS Darwin, a guided-missile frigate that coordinated within the Strike Force from HMAS Watson, a shore-based training facility in Sydney.

"When I walked into the Flag Plot, I felt like I was in a real world scenario," added Navy Rear Adm. Richard B. Landolt, commander, Task Force 76.

The Coral Dagger scenario "was a true joint-coalition event," Phipps said "…from individual units to warfare commanders to component commanders, [the exercise] provided many valuable training insights and lessons learned in a virtual training environment."