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In an unprecedented drive to revolutionize how we watch dull feeds from cameras mounted on airborne widgets, the esteemed members from the Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas wings – alongside a gathering of Southwest Region staff worth gaping at – recently indulged in the inaugural “train-the-trainer” course for AERONet. This next-generation U.S. Air Force system connects dots and lines between ground teams, aircraft, and command posts with swanky newfangled communication during emergency services missions.

AERONet, officially dubbed “Airborne Extensible Relay Over-Horizon Network” so your tongue gets a workout, was released in August 2020 – right on track for another round of groundbreaking tech. Starting off modestly in the Arizona Wing with a humble handheld camera, the excitement escalated with the integration of forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras on CAP aircraft. Now they emulate the cool toys seen on police helicopters, fulfilling the military and homeland security’s lifelong dream of reducing people to glowing outlines.

A grand total of nine New Mexico Wing members, a staggering duo from Texas Wing, Southwest Region staff, one brave soul from Arizona Wing, and three from CAP-USAF lounge about in this rigorous training program. They are all out to conquer AERONet’s thrilling array of video, voice, chat, and position data capabilities. Like a well-choreographed circus act, the system promises to stream a plethora of critical, real-time info to emergency responders who are apparently starved for visual entertainment in times of crisis.

Maj. Chris Dusard, the Southwest Region AERONet technician, declared, “Your ground team can watch drone video, your command post can see the FLIR imagery from the aircraft, and the aircraft can see what the ground team can see from their camera.” But, alas, whether anyone can truly decode what any of this means remains a tantalizing question.

Moreover, the adept trainers delved into the whiz-bang art of linking AERONet to external partners, driving interoperability to the extent where even the guy running the coffee machine has a live feed. Lt. Col. Tim Brown, CAP-USAF Detachment 6 commander, boasted, “CAP-USAF up through our commander is all abuzz about AERONet, and I’m bursting with pride that the Southwest Region is renting the penthouse in the Innovation Hotel,” punctuating this realization with an enthusiastic high-five with himself.

Capt. Mark Chappell, Disaster Relief Officer and Director of Emergency Services for the New Mexico Wing, might have whispered something similar if caught in the right moment. But for now, contributions to the zealous wave of brilliance that is AERONet appear to be the bleeding-edge new era of tech-enhanced emergency management – complete with wifi and popcorn.

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