US, UK participate in Point Blank exercise

48th Fighter Wing and Royal Air Force personnel participated in the latest iteration of exercise Point Blank in Yorkshire, England, March 22, 2019.

Point Blank is a recurring, low-cost exercise initiativedesigned to increase tactical proficiency of U.S. Air Forces in Europe – AirForces Africa and Ministry of Defence forces. Alongside F-15E Strike Eaglesassigned to the 492nd and 494th Fighter Squadrons, RAF Typhoon, Hawk and F-35BLightning jets also participated.

“Point Blank aims to simulate threats and scenarios our operatorsare likely to experience in combat. Flying alongside our RAF partners andcoordinating with the joint terminal attack controllers on the ground does justthat,” said Lt. Col. James Cooper, 48th Operations Group deputy commander. “Therealism we achieve by replicating threats and partnering with our allies toachieve shared operational objectives ensures both of our nations are trainedand ready to fly, fight and win together, whenever called upon.”

This event marks the first time U.K. ground controllersintegrated with U.S. aircraft during a large-force exercise, continuing theexisting readiness training partnership between the two nations. American andBritish mission planners worked together to develop the training scenario inorder to align objectives for both forces.

“The mission set is highly contested, close-air support withdynamic targeting involving a high-value individual,” said Capt. Andrew Lyons,an F-15E Pilot assigned to 48th Operations Support Squadron and one of the leadplanners of the exercise. Point Blank’s large-force exercises have involveddynamic and changing targeting scenarios in the past, but this was the firsttime a focus on contested or degraded operations has been used as a componentof the training, Lyons said.

“With the inclusion of fifth-generation aircraft, we wereable to dive into more complex and more contested degraded operations,” saidLyons. “This was just scratching the surface. We will be able to dive evendeeper as we continue to integrate our training with our U.K. counterparts.”

The newer multi-role F-35 Lightning stealth aircraft aresometimes referred to as fifth-generation jets, in comparison tofourth-generation aircraft like the RAF Typhoon or the U.S. Air Force F-15E.