14th WPS conducts exercise over Mobile Published Oct. 6, 2006 By Senior Airman James Dickens 16 SOW Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla -- The U.S. Air Force Weapons School's, 14th Weapons Squadron located here conducted a two-hour military exercise in the downtown Mobile, Ala., area recently. The exercise, which took place near Dauphin Street, is part of the AC-130 Weapons Instructor Course and is designed to closely simulate combat operations in urban environments. It included approximately 20 people on the ground moving in and out of buildings, while another 18 in the air tracked them. "They provided the 'picture' we wanted to present the aircrew," said Maj. Michael Edwards, 14th WPS. "It forced the AC-130 to maintain situational awareness of the 'enemy' and 'friendly' forces on the ground." The unique location, terrain and facilities offered by Mobile provides participants highly realistic training and sharpens future USAFWS graduates' abilities to combat enemies abroad in urban settings. "Urban environments in third world countries typically consist of lots of two-three story buildings with very narrow alleyways," said Major Edwards. "Since our local urban terrain doesn't approximate this very well, we use Mobile and its larger buildings to provide the same line of sight problems to the aircrew." The squadron has been doing similar exercises in Mobile since 2002. "We plan on continuing to conduct the exercise in Mobile since they are extremely supportive and familiar with our operations," said Major Edwards.