Canadian Air Defense Sector Members Complete Training Deployment at EADS

  • Published
  • By Tim Jones
  • EADS
Rome. NY --  Eight Royal Canadian Air Force members from North Bay, Ontario spent the last month working at the Eastern Air Defense Sector as part of an innovative training effort designed to sharpen tactical skills.

The five tracking technicians and three air weapons officers were at EADS from March 23 to April 20 and integrated quickly into operations. This rapid "plug-in" was essential to the deployment's success.

"The idea was to fully integrate the CADS technicians and air weapons officers right away so they could get as much experience as possible with the wide range of operations and exercises conducted at EADS," said LCol Dave Pletz, the Canadian Detachment Commanding Officer at EADS. Pletz coordinated the training deployment with LCol James Peck, the CO of the 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron at North Bay, and Col. Dawne Deskins, the EADS Commander.

Three of the CADS tracking technicians received theatre certification within three days of arrival, while the other two technicians, who worked primarily in the Joint Interface Control Cell, were theater certified midway through the deployment. The AWO theater certification requires more simulations and training vignettes and took five days to accomplish. As soon as certifications were completed, the CADS personnel were placed on shifts and worked positions just like any other EADS operator.

Capt. Ben Adair, a senior director at CADS, said the volume and pace of operational activity at EADS was an eye-opening experience for most of the group. "EADS is generally a busier Sector than CADS," Adair said. "We don't have anything, for instance, that's quite as robust on a day-to-day basis as the National Capital Region."
For the AWOs, controlling the larger continuation training missions involving multiple aircraft was an invaluable experience, Adair said, as was controlling Operations Noble Eagle (ONE) missions. Additional benefits were gleaned from JICC training, where the CADS technicians picked up several best practices that they hope to incorporate into their operations.

On a larger scale, Pletz noted that the CADS training deployment to EADS was the first in more than 11 years and served to rekindle a long-standing relationship between the two Sectors. At one time, the Sectors routinely conducted training exchanges but the deployments had ceased after 9/11.

From EADS perspective, the training contributed to NORAD's goal of improved theater security cooperation and served as a force multiplier by increasing the number of theater certified controllers and technicians. Since the deployment was paid for by the Canadian Forces, it was also cost-effective for EADS.

"I knew the CADS' operators would be trained, professional and prepared, but their performance exceeded my high expectations," said Col. Deskins, the EADS Commander. "The group was enthusiastic, learned quickly and integrated seamlessly into our daily operations. Hopefully, we'll be able to continue with training deployments like this in the future."