Menasha "Dry Attack" Now Tuesday at 2 p.m.

From: "Donovan, Timothy D LTC NGWI
Subject: MEDIA ADVISORY: Air National Guard training demonstration in Menasha
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Lt. Col. Tim Donovan Director, Public Affairs
Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard
608-242-3050
Web: http://dma.wi.gov/

To: News media in Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Brown counties
NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY

The Wisconsin Air National Guard is proposing to begin limited Close Air Support (CAS) and Time Sensitive Targeting (TST) training in several communities along the west side of Lake Winnebago that underlie long-established military Special Use Airspace. Proposed training would consist of controllers on the ground working within the city while they communicate with aircraft orbiting overhead. The aircraft would conduct simulated "attacks" against select "targets" in these areas. This training will not involve anything actually released from aircraft and no hazardous activities will take place.

WHO: Wisconsin Air National Guard
WHAT: Demonstration of typical Urban Close Air Support (Urban CAS) training event WHEN: 2 p.m. Tuesday, February 12, 2008
WHERE: Across the street from the Menasha City Hall (140 Main Street) Menasha, Wis.
WHY: To demonstrate to public officials and general public the limited effect this training will have on communities where training is proposed to take place. Aircraft will operate at altitudes above 18,000 ft. and activity on the ground will generally be limited to a few personnel in one or two vehicles. This training will not involve anything actually being released from the aircraft and no hazardous activities will take place.

Background: Based on experiences relayed from air and ground personnel recently returned from Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom deployments, the Wisconsin Air National Guard has identified the need to provide training in urban areas for Close Air Support (CAS) and Time Sensitive Targeting (TST), both of which routinely occur in large and dense urban areas.

Urban environments under the low altitude portions of the Volk Field airspace complex are not large or dense enough to support the realistic training required as pilots prepare for combat missions. This training is essential to prepare controllers and pilots to conduct effective Close Air Support and Time Sensitive Targeting that minimizes collateral damage and the risk to innocent civilians in combat zones. Effective air operations also reduce the requirement to conduct dangerous ground operations and reduce the risk to U.S. and coalition service members on the ground. It is important to note that thousands of Wisconsin men and women who serve in the U.S. armed forces have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and have benefited from the availability of Close Air Support.

The expected scope of proposed training is:
*10-15 days of use per year, 3-4 hrs per day of use
*1-2 military vehicles per period of use
* Participants will comply with all local, state, and federal laws
*Aircraft will remain above 18,000 feet in existing military airspace
*Communities proposed for this training are Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac

The demonstration planned for Menasha on Feb. 11 will involve two F-16 aircraft from the Iowa Air National Guard's 132nd Fighter Wing, Des Moines, Iowa. The ground controllers, called Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACS), will be from the 194th Air Support Operations Group, Washington Air National Guard, Tacoma, Wash.

News media will be able to observe aircraft (to the extent they can be seen from the ground), listen to communications from the ground controller to the pilots, and get a general sense of the effect, if any, of this training to communities involved.

News media may interview the Wisconsin National Guard's director of public affairs (Lt. Col. Tim Donovan) and Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center's director of operations (Lt. Col. Brendan Smith). Both officers will be on the ground in Menasha during the entire event and as long afterward as needed to provide additional information.

Lt. Col. Tim Donovan Director, Public Affairs Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard
608-242-3050
Web: http://dma.wi.gov/
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE