ØRLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Norway -- Editor's note: The names of Airmen are being omitted to preserve their security.
Recently, four B-1B Lancers and approximately 200 Airmen deployed to Ørland Air Force Station, Norway in support of a Bomber Task Force Europe deployment. Being the first time that a U.S. bomber squadron has deployed to Norway, standing up a functional operating environment required a team of remarkable communication specialists.
A six-man team of technicians from the 1st Combat Communications Squadron deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to Ørland AFS to support the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron during this historic BTF.
“Our team at the 1st CBCS is constantly training to operate in any location thrown our way,” said the 1st CBCS team lead. “We were able to prove just that here in Norway by getting communication capabilities fully operational in less than 36 hours, all while operating in a foreign location and under Arctic conditions.”
The 1st CBCS Airmen supported the 9th EBS by standing up lines of communication using hard-line and satellite communication signals that route data from Ørland AFS to the “back-end systems” operating out of Ramstein AB.
“My job here has largely been programming back-end network infrastructure to ensure that we were able to provide secure telephone and internet capabilities to this location,” said a tactical cyber transport systems tech.
The 1st CBCS Airmen had no prior knowledge of what they would be working with at Ørland AFS, so they had to adapt quickly to the obstacles they were faced with.
“When we first arrived, we had to analyze how we were going to set everything up in the space that we were given,” said the systems tech. “There’s a minimum distance requirement between certain classified assets, which posed a challenge due to the size of the quarters. But, once we figured out how to station everything, we were able to stand up comms fairly quickly.”
With communication being so vital to mission planning and execution from the beginning of the BTF, 9th EBS Airmen worked closely with the 1st CBCS team to alleviate obstacles.
“Working with the 9th EBS has been incredible. We have learned so much from them and they have made us feel right at home as part of the Bat family,” said the team lead. “It really goes to show their commitment to the ‘One Team, One Fight’ mentality.”