September 13, 2007
Air Force Close Air Support Training in Caliente

By Dave Maxwell

Major Bill Pugh reported at the Caliente City Council meeting last Thursday that the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base will be conducting Urban Close Air Support Training over Panaca, Caliente and Alamo October 15-19.

Urban Close Air Support trains pilots and ground controllers to work together to identify and destroy enemy personnel, vehicles and buildings. Aircraft will stay at least 4,000 feet about the towns and will not be flying at supersonic speeds. Ground controllers will use radios and GPS equipment to guide pilots to their simulated targets. No live ammunitions will be carried by the aircraft or ground controllers. No lasers will be used by aircraft or ground crews.

The same exercise was conducted last April. Due to the fact that much of the time those on the ground and the targets being identified will be unmarked, it’s altogether possible that the general public may not even know an exercise is taking place. It is possible though that there might be as many as a dozen planes flying over the area at one time.

Major Pugh stated to the Council, part of the reason for the training is that is it very hard to get air power onto a particular environment. “The fifth building in a row of 20 is very hard to distinguish when you are flying at 50,000 feet.”

He expressed how much the Air Force, pilots and instructors appreciate the opportunity to fly about the city and conduct training.