Testing and Training with Defensive Countermeasures Programmatic EA
Project Description

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) has prepared a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) to assess the Proposed Action to continue use of legacy defensive countermeasures, their replacements, and the use of new defensive countermeasures in DAF testing and military training programs in the DAF training airspace where their use is approved (see map Figure 1 below).

Background
 

Chaff and flares are the principal defensive countermeasures (see chart titled Defensive Countermeasure Definitions) deployed by military aircraft to avoid detection or counter the targeting of enemy air defense systems or enemy aircraft. The DAF and other components of the Department of Defense have used defensive countermeasures since as early as the 1950s as part of their training. While this activity was initially associated with bomber type aircraft, in today’s military, this training activity extends to almost all aircraft types.

Proposed Action and Alternatives
 

The Proposed Action is to continue use of legacy defensive countermeasures, their replacements, and the use of new defensive countermeasures in DAF testing and military training programs in the DAF training airspace where their use is approved. The defensive countermeasures included in the Proposed Action are grouped into five different categories: 1) chaff; 2) standard MTV flares; 3) standard spectral flares; 4) thrusted flares; and 5) spectral decoys.

The purpose of the Proposed Action is to provide for realistic testing and training with legacy defensive countermeasures and to implement the use of direct replacements and new defensive countermeasures to increase pilot’s and aircrew’s ability to succeed in real combat situations.

The Proposed Action is needed to ensure that the DAF can conduct tests of and train with defensive countermeasures designed for advanced military aircraft capable of defending against adversary modern air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems.
Defensive Countermeasure Definitions

Chaff – aluminum-coated silica fibers dispersed from an aircraft to form an electronic cloud that temporarily obscures an aircraft from radar detection.

Flare – a pellet cartridge ejected from an aircraft that ignites and burns, producing a high-temperature heat source that misleads heat-seeking targeting systems.

Legacy Items – chaff and flare units deployed during the past 40 years and evaluated in previous technical studies and environmental analyses.

New Items – includes (1) replacements for legacy countermeasure items that do not introduce any meaningful difference in the potential for environmental impacts and (2) advanced types of units for aircraft systems, which could introduce differences in the potential for environmental impacts.

Testing – includes the verification of operational capabilities of defensive countermeasures and explores the capabilities of the aircraft and pilots in realistic combat training situations with other aircraft and against adversary aircraft.
Pilots need realistic training with the legacy and new, more advanced, defensive countermeasures in approved military training airspace in order to survive in combat.
Military Training Airspace Used by the DAF image Figure 1: Military Training Airspace Used by the DAF

Only the Proposed Action meets the purpose and need for the action and was carried forward as the sole action alternative for analysis in the Draft PEA. However, the PEA also analyzed the potential effects of a No Action Alternative, representing the baseline, or existing, conditions which would continue if the testing and training use of new defensive countermeasures did not occur at this time. Under No Action, the DAF would continue testing and routine training only with legacy chaff and flare units at existing levels in currently approved airspace and under current management strategies. The PEA evaluated the potential environmental impacts associated with the Proposed Action Alternative and the No Action Alternative to the following resource areas: safety, air quality, cultural resources, biological resources, soil and water resources, land use and visual resources, and socioeconomics.

Programmatic NEPA
 
Aircraft Deploying M-206 Flares During Training image
Aircraft Deploying M-206 Flares During Training

Programmatic NEPA analyses provide the basis for broad, high-level, or sequenced decisions and allows the DAF to subsequently tier to analyze narrower, site- or proposal-specific issues. The contrast between a programmatic and a project- or site-specific NEPA analysis is most strongly reflected in how environmental impacts are analyzed. Impacts in a programmatic NEPA review typically concern environmental effects over a large geographic and/or time horizon; therefore, the depth and detail in programmatic analyses will reflect the major broad and general impacts that might result from making broad programmatic decisions. The context of the decision made should be clear, as well as how it relates to the potentially affected environment and degree of any potential impacts. By identifying potential program impacts early, particularly reasonably foreseeable future impacts/trends, programmatic NEPA reviews provide opportunities to modify program components to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts when developing subsequent proposals.