Communication vital to exercise success: Tools, fielded infrastructure enable forces to pass information to correct link in chain

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amber Lane
  • 90th Communication Squadron
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  Unique to operations in the cyberspace domain is the need to create that domain before anything can be conducted within or through it. 

This holds true not only for the units joining Air Force Space Command's 24th Air Force to conduct cyberspace operations, but also for the units poised to join Air Force Global Strike command. 

The 90th Missile Wing will prove that when it hosts the nuclear weapons accident/incident exercise in exercise Ardent Sentry 2009. 

During NUWAIX, the 90th MW will transform an empty plot of land into a sophisticated set of operations centers to host the unified command that responds to an accident or incident involving a nuclear weapon. 

In a field where there was nothing, the men and women of the 90th Communications Squadron, together with partners from across the entire 90th Mission Support Group and the AFSPC staff, will build a communications infrastructure to provide multiple data networks, robust radio communications and video teleconferencing. 

These networks will enable unclassified and classified conversations and data transfers throughout the exercise site and with higher headquarters. The networks will also enable the use of the most advanced collaboration tools. 

These tools and fielded infrastructure deliver the technology that serves as a force multiplier for the response task force. 

This technology will bring first-hand situational awareness to all elements of the response task force; it will also bring that same situational awareness to off-site commands and inter-agency partners. 

Not only does the technology provide the means to share situational awareness, it also allows multiple experts to contribute simultaneously to the development of courses of action. 

By extending the cyberspace domain throughout the unified command, the 90th CS will help give the response task force every advantage as it deals with one of the most complex situations imaginable.