Wings of Hope

Airlift capabilities remain a keystone of search and rescue missions

Mapping a disaster area to locate life and deliver swift assistance can prove one of the most time-consuming aspects of a search and rescue operation. While new technologies frequently emerge to aid in this process, airlift capabilities remain one of the most reliable methods to alleviate human suffering, whether through evacuations or food and supply drops.

“Modern search and rescue helicopters … provide an enormous advantage in search and rescue missions where every second counts,” according to the website airforce-technology.com. For disaster survivors, the sight of a military helicopter offers hope that their prayers have been answered.

When a massive earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, and a major aftershock followed May 12, Kathmandu officials requested helicopters from assisting militaries, their best chance at navigating the damage through Nepal’s mountainous terrain and delivering aid.

“The need for a search and rescue system on aircraft and choppers to avoid delay in locating and carrying out rescue operations has become more pronounced,” the website DefenceNow.com reported in 2012.

When it comes to rescue and relief operations, U.S. Pacific Command’s unique resources play a key role in transporting people and equipment to remote locations and providing assistance not yet available through the humanitarian relief community, according to a May 2015 Defense Media Activity report.

Besides routinely responding to intense and frequent natural disasters across the Indo Asia Pacific, military personnel have found themselves dispatched recently on a series of search and rescue missions for missing commercial airplanes.

Militaries continue to adopt new technologies to improve response times to all classes of disasters. Indian Air Force officials, for example, reacted to a growing number of military aircraft crashes in the country in 2012 by procuring 7,000 search and rescue beacon systems designed to help military personnel locate aircraft up to 200 kilometers away should a mishap occur.

Without the beacons, some rescue teams took days to reach a crash site, DefenseNow.com reported. “The new generation search and rescue systems will accurately point out the location of a crashed aircraft and its crew.”

More recently, the Indian government proposed a National Aeronautical Search and Rescue Services Board to deal with the eventuality of a missing or crashed aircraft. The group would oversee efforts on land and sea, according to a July 2015 report by The Economic Times newspaper. No timeline for implementing the board has been set.

Training Together

At the heart of preparing for search and rescue operations remains a highly skilled and regularly trained set of troops able to deploy. While no two missions are alike, rescue teams must be properly equipped with a knowledge set they can adapt to meet specified needs.

“The importance of thorough training for all personnel employed on [search and rescue] missions cannot be over-emphasized,” according to the Australia National Search and Rescue Manual. “Failure of a single link in the often complex chain of action required in [search and rescue] missions can compromise the success of the operation, resulting in loss of lives of [search and rescue] personnel, lives of those that might otherwise have been saved and/or loss of valuable resources. “The purpose of training is to meet [search and rescue] system objectives by developing [search and rescue] specialists. Since considerable experience and judgement are needed to handle [search and rescue] situations, necessary skills require significant time to master. Training can be expensive but contributes to operational effectiveness. Quality of performance will match the quality of training.”

Increasingly, relief missions are multinational, given the size and scope of natural disasters. “The Pacific Theater and Pacific Command cover an enormous span of area, and every day we’re encountering new issues,” U.S. Air Force Capt. Mark Nexon, the Cope North 15 humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission commander, said during the February 2015 exercise in Guam.

More and more countries are recognizing the need for joint training to optimize such relief operations. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard partnered with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Royal Australian Air Force, South Korean Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Philippine Air Force for Cope North 15. (Members from the Singapore and Vietnam air forces also observed this portion for the first time.)

Attendees participated in scenarios to meet seven main objectives — airfield assessment team insertion, deployment of contingency response Airmen, expeditionary medical support, multinational aeromedical evacuations, substandard airfield operations, humanitarian assistance airdrops, and search, rescue and redeployment of the contingency response Airmen.

“Natural disasters are very common — there’s a lot of volcanic activity, there’s earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons that remain a threat throughout the region,” Nexon said. Therefore, practicing capabilities, improving capacities, and working together means more can be accomplished, he added.

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International Urban Search and Rescue 

(USAR) Teams Responsibilities:

Preparedness:

• Maintain a constant state of readiness for rapid international deployment
• Maintain a capability to conduct international USAR operations
• Ensure self-sufficiency for deployed responders for the duration of the mission
• Maintain appropriate team member inoculations/immunisations, including search dogs
• Compose the team of personnel that conduct USAR operations in their own country
• Maintain appropriate travel documents for all team members
• Maintain a capacity to staff and support the Reception Departure Centre (RDC) and On Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC)
• Maintain a 24-hour Operations Focal Point.

Mobilization:

• Register the team’s availability to respond and provide pertinent updates on the Virtual OSOCC (VO)
• Complete the USAR Team Fact Sheet (Annex F) and have hard copies available for RDC and OSOCC upon arrival
• Deploy a coordination element with its USAR team to establish or sustain a RDC and OSOCC
• Maintain a 24-hour Operations Focal Point

Operations:

• Establish or sustain a RDC and OSOCC as required
• Ensure proper conduct of its team members
• Perform tactical operations in accordance with the INSARAG Guidelines
• Participate in OSOCC meetings regarding USAR operations
• Provide regular updates on activities to home country

Demobilization:

• Report its mission has ended to the assisting country
• Coordinate its withdrawal with the OSOCC
• Provide completed Mission Summary Report (Annex G) to the OSOCC or RDC prior to departure.
• Become available (as required and possible) for other humanitarian operations — beyond the rubble
• Consider in-kind donation of USAR team equipment left for the affected government

Post Mission:

• The INSARAG Secretariat requests that a copy of the USAR Team Post Mission Report is received within 45 days of the teams return
• Analyse its deployment performance and amend SOPs as required.

Source: the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group Guidelines and Methodology, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs