An A-10 “Warthog” landed in South America for the first time ever recently, as Air Forces Southern leads one of the largest exercises under U.S. Southern Command.
Resolute Sentinel 23, the third edition of the training exercise in SOUTHCOM, involves roughly 1,000 personnel from the Air Force, Space Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and eight partner nations: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Great Britain, Brazil, Chile, Panama, and Uruguay.
The 12th Air Force—Air Forces Southern—is leading the exercise, with 10 USAF aircraft involved, including the A-10, KC-135, C-130, C-17, and C-5, as well as 24 USAF units, spokesman Lt. Col. Mickey Kirschenbaum told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Resolute Sentinel began in 2021, growing from previous humanitarian relief exercises like New Horizons and Beyond the Horizons. The first two editions took place in Central America, but this latest version, based mostly out of Peru, marks the biggest one yet.
In addition to practicing humanitarian relief operations and aeromedical evacuations, Resolute Sentinel includes training for combat operations, interoperability, and Agile Combat Employment, requiring Airmen to rapidly relocate and operate from austere bases. In one scenario on July 12, Airmen set up a forward area refueling point (FARP), gassing up an A-10 from an HC-130 in a remote airfield. “The A-10s need additives for their fuel,” Kirschenbaum said. “We thought we had a contractor here that was going to provide that, and they weren’t able to. So we had to come up with a solution to ferry fuel from one location to the other and then put the additives in so the A-10s can fly with the proper fuel inside. … We’ve been doing a lot of events like that, overcoming obstacles that you would see in a deployed location.”
The A-10s in the exercise are from the Air Force Reserve’s 47th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.—the Reserve portion of the exercise is going by the name Patriot Fury. Units from Texas, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are all involved, even bringing their own fire truck and refueling trucks.
Meanwhile, the Space Force is also getting involved through Operation Thundergun Express, a 21-day Space Force deployment exercise nested under Resolute Sentinel. Members of the 16th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron worked with compatriots from the Ecuadorian and Colombian air forces to build “mobile space detection systems” in Cali, Colombia, and Rionegro, Colombia, and based their command and control in Lima, Peru, according to an AFSOUTH release. It was “the first-ever defensive space control operation in U.S. Southern Command history.”
“During the exercise, the forward-deployed team rapidly detected and reported live-fire electromagnetic interference sent from an exercise input cell attempting to disrupt a commercial satellite on orbit over the Atlantic Ocean,” according to the release.
Resolute Sentinel began June 24 and will run through July 22.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated July 17 to correctly identify all of the units involved in the exercise.
A coalition space team of U. S. Space Force Guardians, Colombian Air Force Guardianes, and Ecuadorian Air Force members deploy an Olympus Bolt intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor at a forward operating location in Rionegro, Colombia, after a rapid relocation from its previous deployment in Cali, Colombia. The deployment was part of Operation Thundergun Express, a 21-day space deployment exercise nested under Resolute Sentinel 23. This antenna, designed for rapid deployment, forms a crucial component of space Agile Combat Employment. U. S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Matlock
A U.S. Air Force Reserve A-10 Thunderbolt II from the 75th Fighter Squadron, Moody Air Force Base taxies into position at El Pato Air Base, during exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, Talara, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
U.S. Air Force Reserve armament systems specialists with the 23d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, load a C-130H Hercules with a GFU-7 “dragon” ammunition loader during Exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, Chiclayo, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
U.S. Air Force Reserve armament systems specialists with the 23d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, load a C-130H Hercules with ammunition for a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II during Exercise Resolute Sentinal, July 12, 2023, Chiclayo, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
A U.S. Air Force Reserve A-10 Thunderbolt II piloted by Major Marshall Buck from the 75th Fighter Squadron, Moody Air Force Base taxies into position at El Pato Air Base, during exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, Talara, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
U. S. Space Force Sgt. Gaston Garces, Space Delta 7, trains Colombian Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andres Henao on the Multi-band Assessment of the Communication Environment (MACE) system as part of Operation Thundergun Express, a 21-day space deployment exercise nested under Resolute Sentinel 23. MACE is a rapidly-deployable, cost-effective, user friendly spectrum analysis and monitoring tool that was key in demonstrating space Agile Combat Employment capabilities during the exercise. U. S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Matlock
U.S. Air Force Reserve armament systems specialists with the 23d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, load weapons on an A-10 Thunderbolt II during Exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, El Pato Air Base, Talara, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
U.S. Air Force Reserve armament systems specialists with the 23d Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, positions a GFU-7 “dragon” ammunition loader on an A-10 Thunderbolt II during Exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, El Pato Air Base, Talara, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II from the 75th Fighter Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, prepares for takeoff during exercise Resolute Sentinel, July 12, 2023, Chiclayo, Peru. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
U.S. Air Force Reserve members from the 23rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, perform a forward area refueling point (FARP) during exercise Resolute Sentinel 2023, El Pato Air Base, Talara, Peru, July 12, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Chris Hibben
Peruvian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea del Perú) members assigned to Defense and Special Operations (Defensa y Operaciones Especiales) prepare to conduct fast-rope training with U.S. service members at Punta Lobos Air Base, Peru, July 12, 2023 during exercise Resolute Sentinel 23. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Corban Lundborg
Staff Sgt. Hubert Ilog, a duty controller for the 64th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron here, trains Peruvian service members on litter proceedures and commands during Exercise Patriot Fury. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Monteleone
U.S. Air Force Reservists assigned to the 728th Airlift Squadron, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, offload a firetruck in Talara, Peru, July 9, 2023, in support of exercise Resolute Sentinel 23. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Corban Lundborg
U.S. Air Force Reservists assigned to the 728th Airlift Squadron, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, offload a firetruck in Talara, Peru, July 9, 2023, in support of exercise Resolute Sentinel 23. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Corban Lundborg
