JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- The 962nd Airborne Air Control squadron wrapped up Red Flag-Alaska 16-1 May on 12, coordinating the exercise's last air-to-air, defensive counter-air mission.

At the heart of the mission was the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System.

"We were doing a defensive counter-air scenario," said Air Force 1st Lt. Nicholas Cummings, 962nd AACS air battle manager. "That basically entails setting up air-to-air platforms and we are simulating protecting a specific point or area. This correlates real-time to if we have certain assets we need to protect in the specific area of responsibility.

"It's basically fighting off any potential threats."

Red Flag-Alaska is a Pacific Air Forces commander-directed combat training exercises for U.S. and international forces that provides combined offensive counter-air, interdiction, close air support and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment.

"We do multiple exercises each year, and it's really a good opportunity for us to train with some of our coalition forces as well as our native U.S. Air Force forces on a larger scale," Cummings said. "We have a large airspace here in Alaska [the largest in the Department of Defense]. It's kind of unique to the rest of the country because of the vast amount of space we have. So we have a really good opportunity to get a lot of people up here and do these large-scale exercises."

On average, more than 1,000 personnel and up to 60 aircraft deploy to Eielson Air Force Base, and an additional 500 people and 40 aircraft deploy to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, for each RF-Alaska exercise. By providing generic scenarios using common worldwide threats and simulated combat conditions, Red Flag-A gives every participant an opportunity to make the tough calls often required in combat.

"The AWACS acts as the central focal point for the mission," Cummings said. "We relay real-time information from the ground agencies that are overseeing the [airborne] operation and pass that info and any key changes to the mission real-time to the fighters.

"We're actually speaking with the fighters as well as ground assets, tanker assets, and any command and control assets in the area of responsibility at any given time."

At 30 years, the AWACS is considered a seasoned airframe, Cummings said. But it is a testament to the airframe's longevity that it is still combat-capable, tested and proven.

The AWACS is unique in that it has such a wide mission set, it's relevant to almost any mission, and with a crew consisted of enlisted and officer personnel, both Canadian and American, it demands crew cohesion, Cummings said.

"Working with different people from different backgrounds gives us a lot of skills in working with external agencies," Cummings said. "There are definitely language and cultural barriers we have to deal with. We have year-round Canadian co-manners we execute with every day. The Japanese also have a AWACS equivalent, so they were here participating with us in 16-1. It's really a character-building endeavor to cross those cultural barriers and figure out how to execute in a coalition scenario."

Regardless of who they're working with, or what the mission is, JBER's AWACS crews are ready and capable.

"There's no other platform that has the long range capability of the E-3 as well as the communications we have available," Cummings said. "Having that rapidly deployable command and control capability is critical. At a moment's notice, we're ready to go."