Air Guard Targets Capability Gaps to Accelerate Modernization

Air Guard Members Primed For Rapid Modernization Following Weapons, Tactics Conference

By Master Sgt. Erich Smith, Air National Guard

TUCSON, Ariz. - Air National Guardsmen converged in the Arizona desert for a tactics-based conference last week - all united in the common objective of identifying critical capability shortfalls, developing solutions to close capability gaps and strengthening combat effectiveness and lethality.

The Air Reserve Component Weapons and Tactics and Domestic Capability Priorities Conference saw warfighters, senior leaders and industry professionals witness what collaboration looked like, said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Bryony Terrell, deputy director, Air National Guard.

"It was not just about technology," Terrell said. "It was the mentality, it was the mindset, it was the operator and the innovator coming together in spirit and realizing that there's a problem at hand, then challenging the assumptions and finding a way to drive through to a solution. And that's the spirit of this event, and that's also what makes us so powerful."

This year's conference marked a significant departure from previous gatherings, where in the past, Guard members would not always have easy access to meet with industry personnel, limiting opportunities for meaningful interactions.

"So what we really were trying to get at is like a 'force functioning' of more interactions with industry [professionals] who could help solve material problems that we have," said Lt. Col. Robert Oehmke, a test evaluator for the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center, and event chairman of the conference.

He added the network opportunities among Airmen were plentiful, too.

"The idea was to get Airmen to cross-communicate with every other community that is here," Oehmke said. "I want a special tactics guy to listen to an F-15 [Eagle] guy and be like, 'I didn't know you had that, and if I had this, that would help you do your mission.'"

For U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew Doucette, avionics specialist, 109th Airlift Wing, New York National Guard, the conference highlighted how relevant his unit is as the only War Department unit that flies the ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules aircraft.

"I'm broadening my horizons and getting to understand where the technology is in context to our aircraft and the whole enterprise," he said.

That means, Doucette said, addressing challenges in sustaining the 109th AW's aging Hercules, which sometimes operates in the strategically important Arctic region.

Doucette pointed to a radio switch panel as an example. Although the component remains available, its aircraft-specific faceplate is no longer manufactured, requiring maintainers to transfer the original faceplate onto a replacement unit.

"Whereas I used to be able to pull this part off the shelf, put it in the aircraft in 10 minutes to test it - now it's turning into a 45-minute ordeal because it's easier to buy less specific parts than it is to buy tailored parts for the aircraft," he explained.

But directly engaging with industry representatives offers an opportunity to address those challenges, Doucette said, without the delays of exchanging emails and waiting for responses.

"It's a quick two-minute conversation with somebody here at the conference," he said, referring to the ease of interacting with industry professionals to solve problems.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Joshua Rose, combat communications superintendent, 178th Wing, Ohio National Guard, said the focus is not on industry itself, but more about understanding the "capabilities that are out there that we can use to fix our problems."

"[Going] after critical capability gaps with what our current equipment set is versus what will potentially come up in a future fight" is one thing the conference facilitates, Rose said.

He added the conference highlighted what kind of course his squadron should take in contributing to the wing's mission and, ultimately, the Total Force.

The conference, Rose said, posed challenges surrounding "how we can adjust and what type of training do we need and what are the current issues with our techniques, tactics and procedures."

In the end, Oehmke said if the conference had one theme, it would center on rapid modernization.

"Ultimately, what comes out of this conference is the modernization book," he said, referring to a presentation that conference participants present to senior leaders that cover the "critical, essential and desired needs in our community to make our major weapons systems more functional and more relevant in the fight."

Yet even with the technological wonders presented at the conference, Doucette, the avionics specialist, said the spirit of the event was a tremendous takeaway that he plans to share with his wingmen.

"People would ask me, 'What is WEPTAC?' And I am like, 'I don't know, but I am going to go and find out,' and it excites me now that I am here," Doucette said. "And I want to take a piece of that excitement back because I have a lot of Airmen under me that are looking for a deeper meaning and a deeper involvement in what they do."