Angel Fire to save lives Published Feb. 7, 2008 By Capt. Laura Ropelis 505th CCW Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- Angel Fire, a Counter Improvised Explosive Device Network Defeat system was successfully tested recently at the Combined Air Operations Center - Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., by the 505th Operations Squadron as part of a new Air Warfare Initiative asking the 505th Command and Control Wing and its subordinate units to gain the proactive edge in irregular warfare. Approximately 1,600 U.S. fatalities have been reported by the Department of Defense in Iraq from IEDs since July 2003. Overall, according to DOD statistics, more than two-thirds of all fatalities and casualties in Iraq are due to IEDs, which are highly concentrated in Baghdad and Anbar provinces. The potential technology and tactics employed to eliminate this singular threat would literally save thousands of lives and keep thousands of future veterans from coming home disabled. An IED is a device, military or nonmilitary, that is physically and psychologically destructive and placed in a manner with potentially lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic or incendiary chemicals designed to destroy, incapacitate or harass according to the DOD. Some IEDs are simplistic while others complex with traps, anti-handling devices and sophisticated electronic initiation systems. The mission of Angel Fire is to develop, test, train and validate tactics to counteract the system with enabling surveillance technology, said Mr. Kevin Sullivan, the project lead. The technology is fully supported, interoperable and integrated with an ability to collaborate, synchronize, control and operate through distributed and integrated environments. "The counter IED is a strategic weapon ... in the Global War on Terrorism," Mr. Sullivan said. The hope for the future is that more counter network centric weapons can be employed to save lives in a strategic global fashion. Prior to 2008 and Angel Fire, the focus was device centric, which required large reserves of manpower to locate and disable each device to react to insurgent efforts. Angel Fire changes the focus and defeats the system or network in a proactive way, acting as pioneer in the irregular warfare initiative by the Air Force. The joint staff of 13 people, soon expected to grow to 36, comes from the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines with diverse perspectives which reach out to the different services to assure integration, effectiveness, interoperability and usability down to the ground levels. The counter IED network defeat system is being tested with time to target visibility decreasing. It is not validated yet. The project is proactive and has the support of the 505th CCW, the U.S. Air Warfare Center, Air Combat Command and Central Command, yet it already unifies national and international agencies to decompose IED networks, generalize to global networks and plans to give a common operating picture to the National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Air Force, Colonel Sullivan said.