86 AW, Poland strengthen each other at ADR 24-4

U.S. Airmen assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing, 435th Air Ground Operations Wing, and the 52nd Operations Group, Detachment 1 along with U.S. Army soldiers supported Aviation Detachment Rotation 24-4, Sep. 8-20, at 33rd Air Base in Powidz, Poland.

ADR 24-4 was a training exercise between Polish and U.S. forces designed to strengthen interoperability, build trust between NATO allies and maintain the existing relationship between the two countries. The exercise consisted of using landing and drop zones, working with Polish forces to drop airborne soldiers and operating in contested environments.

“ADRs are our primary responsibility, used to foster bilateral defense ties, enhance regional security while building partnership capacity and capability efforts,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Pete Namyslowski, 52nd Operations Group, Detachment 1 commander. “Det. 1 represents the first persistent U.S. operational military presence in Poland.”

Alternating between F-16 Fighting Falcons and C-130J Super Hercules airframes, ADRs are designed to promote combined interoperability between the Polish air force, U.S. Air Force and NATO forces.

“A major benefit we get out of this exercise is the relationship we keep,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Aj Ruechel, ADR 24-4 mission commander. “If we ever do need to operate and execute in this area for any reason moving forward, we have the existing relationship to run smoothly off of.”

Ruechel outlined the training directives for ADR 24-4, the first one being contested environment training for pilots and loadmasters.

“Our pilots took the scenario of being in a situation where an adversary affects our ability to navigate using GPS and we practiced navigating without it,” said Ruechel. “While our loadmasters learned how to load and off load mission essential equipment in low visibility.”

ADR 24-4’s second training objective was conducting a variety of airdrops which varied in size, function and country of origin.

The delivery method low-cost low-altitude airdrop training was for the aircrew while utilizing Link-16. Link-16 is a tactical data system that allows real time communication between U.S. and allied nations and was used as their primary means of communication. LCLA airdrops are a cost effective way to supply mobile forces with a small amount of supplies.

In addition, mass container delivery system airdrops were also trained on and executed. Mass CDS airdrops are used due to their ability to resupply ground personnel in the event of large scale operations.

“Mass CDS is a way to resupply forces on the ground with large quantities of food, water, medical supplies, ammo and other things the mission needs,” said Ruechel. “We essentially fill the entire back of the plane with supplies and air drop them to a forward operating base.”

Lastly, the third training objective hit was enhancing interoperability with Polish military forces and cohesion between units using combined forces.

The 435th AGOW and Cross Functional Airlift Support Personnel supported Polish airborne soldiers by setting up and operating landing zones for aircraft and drop zones for personnel and containers, said Ruechel.

ADR 24-4 is one of four exercises that happens annually between the U.S. and Poland in support of a decade-long Defense Cooperation Agreement between the two nations.

Aside from 2020, the 86th AW has deployed forward to Poland every year since Det 1 was activated in 2012, said Namyslowski. During this critical moment in history. Where we are bearing witness to the largest land war in Europe since the end of World War II, it is very important that we sharpen the skills of our combined tactical airlifters. Every single ADR reaffirms to Poland, one of our staunchest allies, of our commitment to security cooperation and deterring future aggression.