MAGAZINE
For RAAM 19 , a small group of seven staff members from the ARRC headquarters , the UK Joint Force Air Component , EuroCorps and Land Command ( LANDCOM ) went to Ramstein in their usual roles to be part of the principal training audience as advisors for land forces . The Ramstein Ambition series is an annual opportunity to train and practice the nuts and bolts of Air Land Integration ( ALI ) using a fictitious but demanding scenario based on real life events . Additionally , the GLE requirement offers a low-cost opportunity for all other NATO Corps High Readiness Forces ( Land ) to improve their own understanding and experience , in an inclusive culture of continuous improvement .
GLE overview The GLE is comprised of Army officers from their parent corps who place themselves within the overall AIRCOM headquarters team responsible for the mammoth task of planning and organising the complicated groupings of aircraft and how they are prioritised . There are about seven-hundred airmen and women called up to fulfil all these tasks , which are detailed , numerous and ever changing . The core element of this team is known as the Joint Force Air Component ( JFAC ). Army officers occupy key positions throughout the heart of this JFAC in the various air force divisions and branches where their specific knowledge of how land forces operate , helps to drive realism and the tempo of the overall exercise . Otherwise false lessons would be identified and erroneously learned .
Army members track and influence the Air Tasking Order ( ATO ) planning process . This is a huge undertaking which can be regarded as an enormous live spreadsheet showing where every aircraft is , where it is going and with what on board . Any specifics
FALL 2020 also have to be included in the ATO such as air-to-air refuelling demands and where they will all return to ; as well as do they have secondary roles to perform . The management of the airspace , so that collisions do not occur , is also required to be one hundred percent correct and that too changes constantly . Every twentyfour hours it is refreshed , a new one published and so on . It makes running a major international airport , which has largely predictable activity like Heathrow look comparatively simple . This ATO begins with overall direction in the Strategy Division ( SD ). It is then reflected in the Air Operation Directive ( AOD ) and then matures for a few days in the Combat Plans Division ( CPD ). It is in the CPD where ARRC representatives explain , in detail , the Air Support Requests ( ASR ) the Army is asking for and what we need them for . Subsequently , we continue to refine our requests during the remainder of the planning process before its approval at the ATO release brief .
The GLE role relies on mutual trust and the firm relationships of building trust over the years working alongside air force colleagues . The Ramstein Ambition series of exercises form the bed rock for this success .
The importance of Air Land Integration and Multi – Domain Operations
Over the last few years , ALI has been a regular topic in NATO exercises . Today , it is framed in the LANDCOM Joint Fires and Targeting Strategy . Increasingly , the ARRC understands our contribution is increasingly part of a multi-domain solution , rather than simply making the interface between Air and Land Components alone work better . The Multi-Domain idea , which
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