Army, Allies Prepare for Long-Range Air Assault in Hawaii

Thousands of U.S. and multinational forces are currently taking part in Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center Rotation 27-01 across the Hawaiian Islands.

The two-week-long training operation will challenge participants' physical and tactical limits.

After the 11th Airborne Division flew 300 paratroopers 3,000 miles from Alaska for a jump into Hawaii, the 25th Infantry Division and its partners began a ground exercise involving several battalions.

"This exercise demonstrates our ability to rapidly marshal and deploy from two separate intermediate staging bases on two separate continents," said Army Lt. Col. Jo Nederhoed, 11th Airborne Division public affairs director.

With the drop zones secured, forces began moving at night and limiting electronic transmissions as they prepared for a long-range maritime air assault.

In the Lightning Surge 6 exercise, the division is testing whether soldiers can stay connected using tactical mesh radios and secure, unclassified data layers.

"We're one of two next-gen [command and control] enabled divisions currently," said Army Maj. Gen. Jeff VanAntwerp, 25th Infantry Division commanding general. "Our cloud-based architecture pushes a good amount of compute from brigades down to the company level."

VanAntwerp emphasized the division is building on its use of mesh radios and commercially available devices by adding a secure network that gives dispersed units more computing power and tools to help commanders make decisions.

Ahead of the air assault, New Zealand aircraft carried South Korean army reconnaissance teams to Hawaii, where they observed the drop zones and set the stage for the assault.

"We are operating within the area where we wish to deter, and so the partnerships that we have grown over time are really long-term, solid partnerships," said New Zealand Army Col. Aidan Shattock, 25th Infantry Division deputy commander for interoperability. "We keep those partnerships going through our pathways activities, allowing us to progress together."

Shattock noted that effective deterrence relies on building interoperability long before a crisis occurs, adding that training together helps allies and partners practice communicating securely, coordinating strikes, sharing intelligence and providing medical and logistical support.

During the upcoming maritime air assault, the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade is scheduled to fly troops from the 2nd Mobile Brigade over the Pacific Ocean and into an area that simulates enemy-held terrain.