Three years in the making, the 505th Training Squadron fulfilled a request by the government of Japan to assist with understanding how an air operations center plans and executes and how to build instructional standards to enable airpower at the operational level of war.

The 505th Training Squadron's Air Operations Center Formal Training Unit sent a team of instructors to Yokota Air Base, Japan, to train fifteen members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, focusing on academic instructor standards, AOC organization, joint planning, force packaging, dynamic targeting, and future proposed Block 20 upgrades to the AOC Weapon System.

The 41st Electronic Combat Squadron members assisted with electronic warfare instruction and provided an overview of non-kinetics planning and execution.

“The 505th Training Squadron is well suited to provide this type of assistance to our foreign partners because we are the subject matter experts on the AOC Weapon System,” said Merrill Ballenger, 505th Training Squadron Training Flight director, Hurlburt Field, Florida.

To make this event successful, multiple years of coordination and navigating changing COVID restrictions occurred.  Only after receiving approval from the office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs, coordination and approval from Japan Air Self-Defense Force senior leaders, synchronization with Pacific Air Forces, and integration with the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron could the event proceed.

“The training we were able to provide directly ties to Secretary Kendall’s operational imperatives,” said Lt. Col. Jason Gossett, 505th Training Squadron commander. “Our squadron’s capability to provide mobile training options to prepare the U.S., allies, and partners for a modern conflict with a peer competitor makes us a unique force multiplier at the operational level.”

The 505th Training Squadron is responsible for preparing graduates to operate the AOC Weapon System, graduating more than 1,600 joint and coalition personnel annually. Additionally, the squadron teaches 13 initial qualification courses in the weapon system, including an Integrated Air and Missile Defense Course, a Joint AOC C2 Course, and an academic instructor course. Graduates from the 505th Training Squadron serve in all combatant commands.