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09/16/2015: Air traffic controllers monitor and coordinate air traffic and vehicles within the designated areas of an established airport control zone, expeditionary airfield or remote area landing site.
Air Support Marines coordinate with aircraft and ground forces in order to provide direct and indirect close fire support.
Initial Training
After recruit training, these Marines will either complete the Air Traffic Control Basic Course at Pensacola, FL; the Air Control Electronics Operator Course at Quantico, VA; or the Air Support Operations Operator Course at Twentynine Palms, CA.
Within the MEU
Air Support and Air Traffic Controllers observe and relay weather conditions, and coordinate communications between aircraft and ground forces to ensure safe and efficient aircraft movement. They may support the Aviation Combat Element on base or deploy as part of a mobile team.
Specialties in Air Traffic Control/Air Support include:
Air Traffic Controller: Air traffic controllers routinely perform various duties and tasks related to the control of air traffic and vehicles within the designated areas aboard an established airport control zone, expeditionary airfield or remote area landing site.
Air Control Electronics Operator: Installs and operates tactical air command and control systems.
Air Support Operations Operator: Performs as liaison between air and ground forces.
This video shows USMC ATC operators at Iwakuni, Japan
Credit: American Forces Network, Iwakuni, Japan:7/17/15
09/14/2015: Marines Perform Maritime Security Exercise With Australian Police
HONIARA, Guadalcanal (July 22, 2015)
Members of the Royal Solomon Police Force swim ashore during a maritime security exercise July 22. Marines attached to the Military Sealift Command joint high-speed vessel USNS Millinocket (JHSV 3) worked alongside the Australian Police Force to provide essential training to the Royal Solomon Police Force to prepare them for future maritime raids and missions.
Millinocket is serving as the secondary platform for Pacific Partnership, led by an expeditionary command element from the Navy’s 30th Naval Construction Regiment (30 NCR) from Port Hueneme, California.
Now in its 10th iteration, Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia Pacific Region.
While training for crisis conditions, Pacific Partnership, missions have provided medical care to approximately 270,000 patients and veterinary service to more than 38,000 animals.
Additionally, Pacific Partnership has provided critical infrastructure development to host nations through the completion of more than 180 engineering products.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by combat correspondent Sgt. James Gulliver/Released)
09/07/2015: INDIAN OCEAN (July 13, 2015) A CH-53 Super Stallion assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) sits on the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20).
Credit:USS Green Bay: 7/13/15
Other photos show the CH-53E operating off of the ship.
The final photo shows Marines embarking on the CH-53 E. Green Bay is in the Indian Ocean participating in Talisman Sabre 2015.
Talisman Sabre is a bilateral exercise intended to train Australian and U.S. forces in planning and conducting combined task force operations.
09/03/2015: A RQ-7B Shadow is launched from a launcher handheld control unit during a training flight at Marine Corps Outlying Field Atlantic Field on July 15, 2015.
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 conducted a training flight to increase familiarization with a RQ-7B Shadow and RQ-21A Blackjack, and train flight operators new to the unit.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Koby I. Saunders/Released)
Credit:Commander, Task Force 70 / Carrier Strike Group : 7/11/15
Sailors aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) heave on a line during a fueling-at-sea with the Royal Australian navy Afloat Support Force ship HMAS Sirius (O 266) in support of Talisman Sabre (TS) 2015.
TS 15 is a biennial exercise that provides an invaluable opportunity for nearly 30,000 U.S. and Australian defense forces to conduct operations in a combined, joint and interagency environment that will increase both countries’ ability to plan and execute a full range of operations from combat missions to humanitarian assistance efforts.
In the fourth photo, the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE 6) (left), the Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) (center) and the Royal New Zealand navy Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) transit in formation in support of Talisman Sabre (TS) 2015.
In the fifth photo, the Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) (left) steams alongside the Royal New Zealand navy Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) in support of Talisman Sabre (TS) 2015.
In the final photo, an SA-330J Puma Helicopter delivers supplies onto the flight deck of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) during a vertical replenishment-at-sea with the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE 6) during Talisman Sabre (TS) 2015.
08/31/2015: The Australian Air Task Group E-7A Wedgetail aircraft and personnel deliver airborne early warning and control support to Coalition aircraft operating in Iraq and Syria as part of the US-led Coalition air campaign.
The single goal of the air campaign is to disrupt and degrade Da’esh’s operations, while the Building Partner Capacity initiative continues to deliver critical training to the Iraqi Security Forces empowering them to fight the Da’esh and reclaim their country.
The Wedgetail’s role is vital in maintaining communications with coalition aircraft operating within the battlespace.
08/31/2015:U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 conduct a familiarization flight at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C, on July 1, 2015.
VMU-2 conducted the internal squadron training to familiarize its new flight operator to the RQ-7B Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle.
08/25/2015: On 13 August 2015 two KC-30 aircraft from RAAF Amberley conducted a Air to Air refueling training sortie.
The Australian Air Force KC-30 aircraft is carrying out an air to air refueling operation using the Airbus Defence and Space Aerial Refueling Boom System (ARBS).
Having an air refuelable tanker, a crew rest area onboard and a large deck, which can be used for a variety of purposes – transport, ISR servers, C2 posts, etc. – is a key advantage of the A330MRTT tanker.
Having a global fleet is highlighted as exchange pilots from Britain and France are involved in the training exercise.
It is clear that the KC-30A is a key platform in shaping a more integrated 21st century combat force as envisaged in the RAAF’s Plan Jericho approach to force transformation.
Credit: Australian Ministry of Defence:8/20/15
During the U.S. tanker competition, one journalist made the comment that this was simply a competition about a gas station in the sky.
This comment revealed only partial understanding of what a modern air tanker can bring to operations.
The A330 MRTT tanker as a fleet provides the possibility for a network of flying air support systems engaged for a long time in an operational setting.
Much depends on how these assets become configured.
With the fuel carried in the wings, the large deck of the A330 can be used to host a variety of air support capabilities: routers, sensors, communication nodes, etc. Such a configuration along with the fuel re-supply capabilities of the A330 tanker makes this a flying air operational support asset.
If the model selected is similar to the model downselected initially by the USAF, it is refuelable in flight.
With the space available in the aircraft – again because of the fact that the fuel for refueling is carried in the wings – a crew rest area can be provided.
This means that the air tankers can stay aloft for a significant period of time as the refuelers are themselves refueled. This in turn means that the refueling aircraft as a fleet can have a strategic impact.
The Honourable Kevin Andrews MP, Minister for Defence (right) is shown around a KC-30A Mutli Role Tanker Transport by then Commander Air Mobility Group, Air Commodore Warren McDonald, CSC during the 2015 Australian International Air Show. Credit: Australian Ministry of Defense.
Once the planes are airborne and they have access to refuelers for their own operational autonomy, the fleet can tank a variety of national or coalition partners operating from dispersed or diverse airfields.
And the discretion possible airborne can allow nations to tank a variety of coalition partners, some of whom might not be favorite candidates if seen on the ground.
According to several interviews conducted in Australia in August 2015, the tanker has been a key part of the combat effort for the RAAF in Operation Okra.
Those interviews will discuss a number of demonstrated capabilities: high reliability rates, a small logistically footprint to maintain the plane, an ability to operate as an integral part of the combat team, positioning the tanker where fighters need to be refused prior to those fighters even requesting the service, and the high potential for a global sustainment system once the ability of the KC-30A to tap into the worldwide system of commercial parts available to world-wide commercial A330s has been validated.
The Aussies have one KC-30A on station for Operation Okra, which has delivered more than 27 million pounds of fuel in operations with allies and in support of RAAF aircraft, according to Air Vice Marshal McDonald.
They are buying two additional aircraft as well from the Quantas fleet which are being modified for military service, with one in Spain already undergoing modifications.
This will bring their total to seven tankers.
And according to Air Vice Marshal McDonald, the Singaporians spent a good deal of time with the Aussies prior to their downselect of their tanker, and more generally, the lead nation role for the Aussies has led them to work with a number of nations in unlocking the capabilities of the new tanker.
According to the RAAF, the KC-30A is described as follows:
The KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport, which is a heavily modified Airbus A330 airliner, enables Air Force to conduct both air-to-air refuelling and provide strategic air lift.
It will be compatible with refuelling the P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft and F-35A Lightning II when these aircraft enter service.
Based at RAAF Base Amberley and operated by Number 33 Squadron, the five KC-30As feature advanced mission systems, including military communications and navigation, an electronic warfare self-protection system for protection against threats from surface-to-air missiles.
The KC-30A MRTT is fitted with two forms of air-to-air refuelling systems – an Aerial Refuelling Boom System mounted on the tail of the aircraft, which comprises a ‘fly-by-wire’ boom refuel system; and a pair of all-electric refuelling pods underneath each wing, which unreel a hose-and-drogue to refuel probe-equipped aircraft.
These systems are controlled by an Air Refuelling Operator in the cockpit, who can view refuelling on 2D and 3D screens.
The KC-30A MRTT has a fuel capacity of more than 100 tonnes, and can remain 1800km from its home base with 50 tonnes of fuel available to offload for up to four hours.
In its transport role, the KC-30A is capable of carrying 270 passengers, comes with under-floor cargo compartments and will be able to accommodate 34,000 kgs of military and civilian cargo pallets and containers.
The KC-30A has participated in Exercise Northern Shield, Exercise Arnhem Thunder, Exercise Bersama Lima and Operation OKRA.
Advanced mission systems are also fitted.
They include the Link 16 real-time data-link, military communications and navigation suites, and an electronic warfare self-protection system for protection against threats from surface-to-air missiles.
