Army Aviators Push Boundaries During Falcon’s Peak Exercise

By Michael Strasser, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Drum

FORT DRUM, N.Y. –Providing 10th Combat Aviation Brigade soldiers assigned here with the most realistic training scenarios required planners to think outside the box — and outside of Fort Drum.

10th Combat Aviation Brigade pilots from Fort Drum, N.Y., executed tactical flight operations during the Falcon’s Peak exercise, April 17, 2018. The training ensures that pilots and crews can operate at low altitudes, around 50 feet above the ground, in order to evade radar and minimize air defense threats. Army photo

That was recently accomplished with Falcon’s Peak, a 10-day aviation exercise that simulated a rapid readiness deployment of air and ground troops from Fort Drum to Camp Ethan Allen and Camp Johnson in Vermont.

“Falcon’s Peak was an exercise designed to challenge the aviation brigade using real-world distances and simulated threats that replicate the future of warfare, particularly as we see it in multidomain battle” said Army Col. Clair A. Gill, 10th CAB commander.

Army Maj. Joshua Meyer, 10th CAB operations officer, said that the idea for Falcon’s Peak was conceived while the brigade was on a nine-month deployment in Europe last year, where they participated in Saber Guardian 17 and Falcon’s Talon exercises.

In planning Falcon’s Peak, Meyer said that it would allow them to exercise all of their key annual training requirements.

Training Requirements