U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 374th Communications Squadron showcased expeditionary communications capabilities during exercise Samurai Relay at Sagami General Depot, Feb. 13.

Samurai Relay, formerly known as Adamantium Shield, is a unit-level exercise designed to evaluate the squadron’s ability to rapidly deploy and establish communications in austere, unfamiliar environments. In a first for the exercise, personnel and equipment were transported to the site on a U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the 52nd Aviation Regiment, highlighting joint-service interoperability, expanding connections and bolstering the squadron’s mobility capabilities.

“The objective of the exercise is to establish initial communications to enable users to link back to their home unit, request airlift capability or control air assets in any theater or environment,” said Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Fleming, 374th CS quality assurance evaluator. “Integrating with the Army was a way to introduce logistical challenges and think outside of our normal skill set.”

Throughout the exercise, the evaluation team observed Airmen donning mission-oriented protective posture gear before assembling communication fly-away kits, which are rapid deployment systems designed to establish secure satellite communications in environments with no data services. Setting up the CFAKs served as the exercise’s focal point to test the expeditionary communication team’s ability to provide critical network connectivity under pressure.

“This exercise further strengthens and continues our experience for our Airmen to set up their communication fly away kits across multiple U.S. Forces Japan installations,” said Lt. Col. Steven Lee, 374th CS commander. “Practicing expeditionary communications is very important because information technology skills are perishable. If you don’t practice, you start losing your capability with it, so this is fulfilling our reps and sets to be able to sustain our capabilities while also getting stronger.”

Col. Burt Okamoto, 374th Mission Support Group commander, also traveled to Sagami General Depot to observe the Airmen in action while acting as the principle of communication reception. After the network was successfully established, Okamoto personally tested its functionality, validating the system’s effectiveness.

“The expeditionary communication team’s specialty is the rapid deployment of tactical command and control assets,” said Fleming. “It may be necessary to move our assets in response to changing field conditions to anywhere in theater.”

Expeditionary communications teams enable effective command and control with CFAKs. Command and control ensures seamless communication between units and directs resources to execute military operations with maximum efficiency.

“These CFAKs provide options to missions down range,” said Lee. “You are able to set up command and control at any point in degraded, denied, or austere environments. The ability to send messages and communicate is vitally important to enable the success of whatever missions we’re supporting.”

Training opportunities, like Samurai Relay, keep the 374th CS ready to ensure information superiority for U.S. Forces Japan and deployed forces throughout the Western Pacific.