Combat prep: Rainy weather pauses Army nighttime helicopter training at Biak Training Center until Monday

(Update: Adding video and comments from training center manager)

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Oregon National Guard’s Biak Training Center in Powell Butte is hosting active-duty Army rotary wing (helicopter) night training missions outside of normal operations hours through next Monday. But weather can be a factor, so the cloudy, showery conditions made for a pause in their plans.

The visiting unit is located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Tacoma, Washington.

Army helicopters are scheduled to conduct intermittent nighttime air operations at Biak’s Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training site, in order to maintain pilot and crew proficiency necessary to support real-world military operations, officials say. 

“Night training missions are a critical component for pilots to maintain their readiness for real-world missions,” said Michael Paul, Biak Training Area manager. “We understand that this type of training can be disruptive to the local community and appreciate their support for mission readiness.”

Night flying operations will occur from sundown until about midnight and could include low-level flying and refueling stops at the Redmond Airport.

"They're using, blanks out here -- pyros such as smoke, simulators, and then also artillery simulators as well," Paul said during a visit Thursday to the facility. "And so that just gives them that real-world environment of potential combat environment that they might experience overseas."

The unit from Tacoma, Washington has used the center's 43,000-acre military operations in urban terrain site to practice combat and aviation training.

"They do what's known as some movement or maneuver training, where they actually use vehicles or they use their on foot, where they go from one location to another. Sometimes they'll have opposing forces or notional opposing forces," Paul said.

The Biak Training Center usually trains the National Guard citizen-soldiers from across the state. But Bend and Redmond police and the U.S. Forest Service also use the site for hostage and leadership training. Even the FBI has used the facility, because the Central Oregon darkness is perfect for military training.

"It's really dark here at night, and we actually facilitate that darkness by eliminating all the lights out here," Paul said. "So it's completely dark for the crews to train."

Soldiers go through classroom lessons and simulation training before going out on the course.

Training was paused due to Thursday's rainy weather, but the Forest Service will be on scene training this weekend, and they're hoping to have that Tacoma unit back out on Monday for their last day of night helicopter training.