Boletice, Czech Republic -- Nearly 5,000 miles from home, 15 members of the 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment of the Ohio National Guard use their Sentinel radar system to scan the skies for possible threats during Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2015, in the Czech Republic.
The goal of Tobruq Legacy is to have five different countries with five different systems, with one unified air picture resulting in an international live fire. To help make that happen the Ohio National Guard sent a detachment of soldiers with two Sentinel radar systems to connect with a command and control system provided by the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command based in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The other countries taking part are NATO partners from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Lithuania.
"It's an extraordinary opportunity for us," said 1st Lt. Eric Sylwestrak, 2nd Bn. of the 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. "It's not too often that we get to use the systems and be able to radiate in the states, let alone take them half way around the world and do it in an actual live environment with multiple countries and multiple aircraft that we haven't seen tracks of before."
The training to be proficient in air defense radar systems like this takes 16 weeks of initial instruction for operators, and 11 weeks for radar repairers, followed by on-the-job training throughout their careers, but putting it to real world use expands the knowledge base of everyone involved.
"It's been an eye opening experience to see what we're capable of and not just what we normally train for," said Sylwestrak.
Operating radar systems or managing network connections and passing data to five countries takes a team approach and the soldiers of the this detachment from the 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment are making that happen.
"We've seen a lot of systems within our own network and other countries networks which helps us with interoperability and our soldiers have gotten to grow and learn how to build their teams." said Staff Sgt. James Foraker a radar repair supervisor of the 2nd Bn., 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.
Now this team can add to their skillset the ability to deploy thousands of miles away with five countries, five different systems and provide one common air picture to defeat threats and protect friendly airspace in Europe or wherever they may go next.
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