The George Washington and Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Groups, as well as land-based aircraft from Marine Corps Air Group 12 and Air Force 36th Operations Group completed dynamic war-at-sea exercises (WASEX) as part of Valiant Shield Sept. 16 and 18.

These WASEXs utilized joint assets to simulate long range strikes against hostile surface warships in order to improve joint interoperability, to assess dual carrier strike group and joint operations, and to conduct maritime threat neutralization.

“WASEXs are conducted by naval assets around the world and in their most basic form they are the execution of, in this case, an air-launched attack against simulated adversary surface ships played by U.S. surface combatants,” said Rear. Adm. Mark Montgomery, commander, Battle Force 7th Fleet. “Much like in the 6th Fleet, 5th Fleet or 3rd Fleet, out here in 7th Fleet we conduct routine WASEXs. The difference in this one is that we are being assessed in our ability to efficiently and accurately execute a war-at-sea strike in a given timeframe.”

Participants in Valiant Shield include the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS George Washington (CVN 73) and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and its embarked air wing, CVW-17, cruisers and destroyers, Military Sealift Command ships, more than 100 additional Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps aircraft, and an estimated 18,000 Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel.

“The joint environment provides a lot of additional capability,” said Montgomery. “We can conduct organic air wing strikes and do them very efficiently, but we do them more effectively and efficiently when we have our joint partners. They can provide aerial refueling, data location, air-to-air support and escort in and out of the strike mission.”

Participating forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of joint forces. These capabilities will encompass air-defense exercises and complex warfighting.

“WASEXs allow us to practice targeting and attacking simulated threat task groups and opposing sea targets,” said Cmdr. Ernest Winston, commanding officer of the Shadowhawks of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141. “As adversaries become more advanced, it requires us to adjust our tactics accordingly. This exercise gives us a chance to incorporate new tactics and perfect old ones.”

Valiant Shield is the largest joint unilateral military exercise in the Pacific this year, with a focus on intergration of joint training among U.S. forces.

“Integrating Air Force assets with Navy and Marine Corps helps to strengthen our existing tactics, techniques and procedures,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Ernie Drake, squadron weapons systems officer of Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 533. “Using these assets allow us to accomplish our objectives through various mission sets, namely air interdiction of maritime targets, incorporating close escort and providing pre-strike sweep elements.”

This training enables real world proficiency in sustaining joint forces through detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas.
“War-at-Sea isn't something the Air Force gets to practice regularly, so this is the first time some of our pilots have seen this concept in action,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. “Barley” Baldwin, Valiant Shield Deputy Air Boss, from the 302nd Fighter Squadron. “Getting to coordinate the wide array of air assets provides us a very unique opportunity. Inherently there aren't that many opportunities where we can practice going after a threat against a surface group. Having a carrier coordinate land-based fighters, bombers, command and control and Marine Corps assets to go after an (opposing force) ship is a unique opportunity that an exercise like Valiant Shield provides.”

The lessons learned from exercises like Valiant Shield will assist the U.S. in continuing to develop regional and global power projection capabilities that provide a full-range of options to succeed in defense of its interests and those of its allies and partners around the world.

"Valiant Shield 2014 is a large joint military exercise, one of the largest anywhere in the world this year. It combines a series of vignettes to test our operational and tactical capabilities against high-end adversaries along with operations that allow us to asses and improve out interoperability between joint forces,” said Montgomery. “It also serves as (Task Force 70's) major two-year certification where we not only demonstrate our capabilities as a strike group, but also our ability as a task force to manage multiple carrier strike groups during complex operations. This is an extremely complex exercise for the George Washington and Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Groups."

Valiant Shield is a U.S.-only exercise integrating an estimated 18,000 Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps personnel, more than 200 aircraft and 19 surface ships, offering real-world joint operational experience to develop capabilities that provide a full range of options to defend U.S. interests and those of its allies and partners.