NavNews02 June 2000 NNS2303。“小鹰号”航空母舰/飞行联队完成“2000金色眼镜蛇”“小鹰号”航空母舰公共事务人员“小鹰号”航空母舰,在海上(NNS) -结束一场激烈的四天充满了几乎连续飞行操作,“小鹰号”航空母舰(CV 63)和舰载飞行联队(飞行联队)5最近完成了他们参与运动眼镜蛇黄金2000。从5月9日到23日，“眼镜蛇黄金2000”演习对美国和泰国军方进行了测试，以确保地区和平。它还加强了泰国皇家武装部队自卫和应对区域紧急情况的能力。这次年度联合演习是美国太平洋司令部今年规模最大的军事演习之一，参加演习的部队来自泰国和美国空军、陆军、海军和海军陆战队。来自新加坡的武装部队也在今年首次参加。来自CVW-5的飞机，永久性地登上小鹰号，在日本松木海军空军基地完成大约500架次，包括空对空和空对地训练任务的混合。除了从小鹰号的甲板起飞外，CVW-5还在曼谷东北约165英里的Korat泰国皇家空军基地操作F/A-18大黄蜂和F-14雄猫战斗机。这些飞机充当了侵略者的角色，在泰国的Chandy和Bon Chan Kren惰性靶场进行了当地打击训练演习。CVW-5飞机还为来自新加坡、泰国、美国空军和美国海军陆战队的中队提供空对空训练。 "Our Hornets flew 36 sorties with the Royal Thai Navy," said Lt. j.g. David Baird of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 195, from Madison, N.J. "It was a great opportunity to train with them and their F-16, F-5 and L-39 aircraft." Keeping an eye on all the action, Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 115's E-2C Hawkeye aircraft provided critical data about incoming "enemy" aircraft to the pilots, the ship and the rest of the battle group. "Our role in Cobra Gold was to intercept, control and provide early warning location and identification on simulated hostile aircraft," said VAW-115's Lt. Cmdr. Jim Byerly of Fresno, Calif. "We flew from one end of the range to the other looking for Thai aircraft playing the role of the opposition," said Byerly, a mission commander in the Airborne Command and Control Center during Cobra Gold 2000. The squadron's efforts complemented those of Kitty Hawk's Combat Direction Center (CDC), which served as the Hawk's eyes and ears as they worked around the clock to keep the ship up to date on the tactical scene. "Combat Direction Center was responsible for air traffic control for up to nine overland missions a day during Cobra Gold," said Chief Operations Specialist(SW/AW) Patrick Rivers, the CDC leading chief petty officer from Albany, N.Y. "After completing their missions, the planes would turn around and simulate hostile contacts. It was our job to detect, identify and track all of the inbound hostile forces." Tracking simulated attacks and coordinating counter strikes was only part of CDC's mission. Passing on the "big picture" to the fleet made up the rest. "One of the key parts of our job was the battle group communications links," said Operations Specialist 2nd Class Michael Hester of Chattanooga, Tenn. "Once we identified the aircraft, we passed the information to the rest of the fleet," said Rivers. "To do that we had to keep in constant communications with the battle group. We kept the entire battle group up-to-date with the exact location of each contact we had." Rear Adm. Timothy J. Keating, Task Force 70's commander embarked aboard Kitty Hawk, said Exercise Cobra Gold 2000 provided an excellent opportunity for America's only permanently forward-deployed battle group to effectively test their mission readiness. "Cobra Gold was great training for everyone all around," said Keating. "We were able to do a lot of training for the Hawk/FIVE team, as well as exercise with the Thai and Singapore navies. It was great for the air wing because of availability of some target facilities that aren't available in Atsugi, and great for the Kitty Hawk's crew because they got to put their battle skills to the test in this important region of the world." Kitty Hawk, operating from Yokosuka, Japan, is on a regularly scheduled two-month deployment to the Western Pacific Ocean. Accompanying Kitty Hawk is the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and the destroyer USS O'Brien (DD 975), operating from Yokosuka, Japan. For more information about the USS Kitty Hawk/CVW-5 team, go to http://www.kittyhawk.navy.mil. For more information about USS O'Brien, go to http://www.obrien.navy.mil. -USN-