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NEAR MARANA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - The world's largest bomb squad training took place in Marana, with the goal of helping public safety officers stop situations involving explosives.
Bomb squads from across Arizona, the western part of the country, and around the world came to Pinal Airpark this week to train for explosive situations, in an effort to get federal, state, and local bomb specialists on the same page.
"At the end of hte day, everybody leaves knowing each other, respecting each other discipline's, and taking the time to learn each other's techniques," said John Simpson, the program manager for Raven's Challenge.
The airplane boneyard gave squads the ability to train in unique situations.
"The scenario is that a device made it into the cargo hold, and the operators had to come up with a plan," said Michael Manning with TSA.
Once the device was found, it was disposed of. The bomb technicians dealt with a variety of different explosives, and the training is timely, as people in Austin, Texas are still reeling from a spate of package bombings.
"When the big thing happens here, these squads will have a report, and the capability to understand each other and mitigate an alike situation quickly," said Simpson.
The training exercise will be held in three other locations in the coming months, including Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia.
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2018 Raven's Challenge
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