Surveillance and Response Group (SRG) aviators, as well as Navy and Army personnel, converged at RAAF Base Williamtown from September 29 to October 12 for Exercise Phantom Shield 25-2. 

Exercise Phantom Shield is a standalone, bespoke joint collective exercise led by SRG, conducted in a virtual training environment. It occurs biannually and is designed to evolve following each iteration, ensuring that training focuses on those mission elements that cannot be achieved elsewhere in the live or virtual exercise program.

Air Warfare Centre Synthetic Exercise Control Director Ryan Slinger was the facilitator for the exercise. 

“Exercise Phantom Shield 25-2 was designed to facilitate training for tactical command and control, and intelligence units in decision making in a high-tempo, demanding and immersive synthetic environment,” Mr Slinger said.

“The exercise was designed and run by Air Warfare Centre’s Tactics and Training Directorate. The exercise design focused on enabling command and control personnel to hone their decision-making skills while being exposed to a realistic scenario.”

The exercise aimed to improve joint interoperability by integrating Air Force command and control elements with Hobart-class destroyer operations staff, Navy’s Fleet Fighter Control Element and Army elements.

Officer Commanding 41 Wing Group Captain Tracy Douglas served as the exercise director for Phantom Shield. She said she was pleased with how the activity was conducted and the opportunity it provided for personnel to practise their skills in the virtual environment. 

“Bringing together Surveillance and Response Group aviators from 3 Control and Reporting Unit, 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit and 2 Squadron – with members from 87 Squadron, the Army’s 16 Regiment, and Navy’s Fleet Fighter Control Element and Air Warfare Destroyer – enabled the successful conduct of Exercise Phantom Shield,” Group Captain Douglas said. 

“This kind of synthetic training – harnessing technology and knowledge to provide an immersive experience for the training audience – is incredibly valuable.” 

For Mr Slinger, the exercise highlight was seeing their efforts to provide the best possible training experience come to fruition. 

“It was great to see the training audience take this exercise seriously and understand that they were required to perform to the best of their ability, which resulted in individual and collective improvement throughout the exercise.”