Air Defense Airspace Soldiers prepare for the watch

By Spc. Osama Ayyad, 10th Mountain Division JournalistJuly 2, 2015

RAM Warn training
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Members of Target Acquisition Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), provide digitally simulated hostile indirect fire during an exercise that tested multiple RAM Warn systems and t... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
RAM Warn training
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The Rocket, Artillery and Mortar Warning system, which gives Soldiers more time to seek cover to protect them from indirect fire, includes multiple speaker towers that are controlled wirelessly, an indoor warning component that consists of speakers a... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (July 2, 2015) -- Air Defense Airspace Management Cells of 1st and 2nd Brigade Combat Teams, 10th Mountain Division (LI), alongside Target Acquisition Platoons of 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st BCT, and 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd BCT, digitally tested and trained on a Rocket, Artillery and Mortar Warning system June 25.

The RAM Warn system works with multiple radar systems that detect flying objects including indirect fire, which is commonly used by enemy combatants in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The system then calculates a point of impact and warns Soldiers of the threat, giving them an opportunity to seek cover.

Warrant Officer Jason Notestine, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd BCT, said the training was meant to give Soldiers who would use and maintain the system an opportunity to become familiar with recent upgrades.

The 10th Mountain Division Air Defense Battle Management System operators, aviation operation specialists and air traffic controllers, who work with similar equipment, were invited to the training.

One participant, Sgt. Michael Hudgins of HHC, 1st BCT, said the training made him confident in operating the system.

"I am comfortable knowing that my team and I are 100 percent fully mission capable to operate this equipment when we deploy," Hudgins said. "This system will save lives."

The system used in the training, which is assigned to brigade elements, is capable of covering a brigade's footprint, Hudgins said, and it emits warnings via loud speakers and flashing lights instantly after it detects incoming indirect fire.

Pvt. Cameron Chapin and others of TAP, 3-6 FA, 1st BCT, provided digital simulations of indirect fire that would test the systems and its operators during the training.

"We use the same radar system that detects incoming indirect fire to study patterns in enemy fire," Chapin said. "It calculates the points of origin and impact."

Chapin said that detection system operators would highlight points of origin of enemy indirect fire, and the next time they detect incoming from that point, "we send that information to our guns that immediately return fire to eliminate the threat. We use the same information for offense and defense."

Soldiers participating in the exercise said they will be safer with the RAM Warn during their upcoming deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

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