U.S., Russians to Team Up in Arctic Military Exercise

The Air Force is headed for Siberia, not on a spy mission or a bombing run, but to take part in what’s being called the first joint military exercise involving U.S. forces on Russian soil.

The two countries will team up this week for a mock search-and-rescue operation on a remote Russian island in the Arctic Ocean.

During the exercise, the Americans hope to learn more about cold-weather operations from the Russians, who in turn will get a glimpse of in-flight refueling procedures and the more advanced American aircraft.

“We all find (the cooperation) very dramatic,” said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Taylor Jr., commander of the Alaska Air National Guard. “They had been the enemy for so long.”

Aside from the practical benefits, American military planners say the operation also is a way for President Clinton to show support for embattled Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

“We hope it will be useful in creating political stability (in Russia), which is in all of our best interests,” said Lt. Gen. Joseph Ralston, commander of the 11th Air Force at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.

After months of planning, the mission had been shelved for money reasons. But it was quickly revived six weeks ago after Yeltsin found himself locked in a power struggle with the conservative leadership of the Russian Parliament.

Ralston and three dozen Air National Guardsmen and Air Force personnel left early Monday for the five-day event. Ralston also will be meeting with several high-ranking Russian officers.

A simulated airplane crash is to be staged Thursday out of a military base at Tiksi, at the mouth of the Lena River on the northern Siberian coast.

Four helicopters--two Russian and two HH-60G Black Hawks from the Alaska Air National Guard’s 210th Air Rescue Squadron--will fly 225 miles north to the crash site. Rescue personnel will parachute in to tend the “victims” and prepare them for evacuation to Tiksi.

“The Russians are the premier cold-weather operations people in the world,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Callahan, mission commander.

Lessons learned may also have commercial benefits, given increasing air traffic over the North Pole and efforts to increase shipping from the Pacific Rim to Europe through the Northern Sea Route.