LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. – The 607th Air Control Squadron hosted Phoenix Sunrise, a bilateral exercise between members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force, Jan. 19 to Feb. 17, 2024, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
33 airmen assigned to the 42 Radar Squadron, based out of 4 Wing, Canadian Forces Base, Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, participated in the exercise, which allowed them to validate the mobility and deployment capabilities of the RCAF’s new TPS-77 radar system.
"Exercise Phoenix Sunrise 24 is the first deployment of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s AN/TPS-77 Radar,” said Maj. Marc Raven, 42 RS commander. "This exercise has provided 42 Radar Squadron with the opportunity to rapidly deploy to Luke Air Force Base, testing our members’ ability to plan and execute radar operations from a forward location.”
Training with key allies and partners is a crucial step to address global security challenges. Exercises like Phoenix Sunrise are pivotal opportunities for the U.S. Air Force and partner nation forces, like the RCAF, to strengthen long-lasting partnerships and reinforce operational knowledge.
"These exercises are important as it allows the USAF and partner nations to team together in a training environment to develop best practices and learn lessons together,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Weissinger, 607th ACS commander. “This way, if the time ever comes that we will have to deploy together to a combat area, these training experiences will allow us to be much better prepared and ready to work together.”
For the 607th ACS, training with the RCAF and 42 RS continues to grant their Airmen unique joint training opportunities and insight into multinational operations.
“By exercising and training with partner nations, 607th Airmen are able to gain valuable coalition experience that will better prepare them if they are ever tasked to deploy with allied partners,” said Capt. Timothy Sikand, 607th ACS director of cyber and maintenance operations. “These exercises are also great at providing perspective for the ‘why’ behind our mission and why training C2 operators is so important, not only to us, but allies as well.”
With the conclusion of Phoenix Sunrise, the 607th ACS and the 42 RS are confident that their Airmen will be able to operate within the fast-paced environments of deployments and real-world contingencies.