Fall 2006 - Air & Space Power Chronicle - Air Force Link

110 AIR & SPACE POWER JOURNAL FALL 2006positively. Successful LIC operations require atruly joint effort in order to win the peace.The more Airmen understand and train forLIC operations, the quicker and more efficientlythe United States can achieve victory. qNotes1. From 4 April to 15 September 2004, the 355thFighter Squadron, an A-10 unit in Bagram, Afghanistan,flew over 2,350 sorties, using weapons on just 100 of themfor an employment rate of 4 percent.2. Maj Gen Eric Olson, commander of Task Force 76and the 25th Infantry Division (Light), commented at theCAS symposium at Bagram in August 2004 that CASallowed him to violate the commandment of havingreserve forces available: “CAS is my reserve force.”3. Of the 2,350 missions flown by the 355th FighterSquadron from 4 April to 15 September 2004, only twoinvolved attacks by enemy forces while A-10s flew overhead.4. From 1 April to 15 September 2004, the number ofair support requests for ground-convoy escort greatlyincreased. In April, tasking for ground-convoy escort waslimited to special operations forces. By September themajority of these requests supported regular Army groundconvoys and comprised well over 25 percent of the daytimedaily flying schedule of the 355th Fighter Squadron.5. Joint Publication 3-09.3, Joint Tactics, Techniques,and Procedures for Close Air Support (CAS), 3 September2003 (incorporating change 1, 2 September 2005), ix.6. The following are two concrete examples for potentialimprovement in LIC CAS. First, at the National TrainingCenter (Fort Irwin, CA, proper), the residences andinfrastructure reside underneath airspace which could beused, with appropriate restrictions, for urban CAS trainingwithout live ordnance. In addition, on the non-forceon-forcedays at Fort Irwin, unique opportunities exist forconducting ground-convoy escort and training for LICobjectives. Second, similar opportunities present themselvesfor utilizing the infrastructure of Eielson AFB, AK,during the Cope Thunder exercise. Some coordinationbetween the Stryker Brigade at Fort Wainwright, AK, andthe 354th Fighter Wing has resulted in possibilities forurban-combat training with minimum impact to the base.