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During that visit I had a chance to talk with Keith Eikenes, Director, Department for Security Policy and Operations in the Ministry of Defence of Norway. We focused on the new security environment and the Norwegian way ahead in that interview.
Recently, I have a had an opportunity to follow up with Eikenes in a phone interview during my most recent trip to Scandinavia this Fall and to continue to discuss the evolving strategic environment and shaping a way ahead.
Since we last spoke significant political changes in NATO countries, and in Europe more generally, have occurred as well as continued Russian actions in the Middle East and I Europe, and most recently the conduct of its large ZAPAD 17 exercise with ZAPAD in Russian meaning Western.
And the Swedes have just concluded their largest military exercise in more than 20 years.
Question: What is your current focus of attention in light of the various European developments?
Keith Eikenes: One of the things that we’re looking at within the Nordic-Baltic format is how to strengthen our dialogue and share experiences and views on crisis management in a multilateral setting.
This is one of the focus areas of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation.
Norway will follow up on this further, when we have the chairmanship of the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) group next year.
Question and Comment: We are not talking about the Soviet Union; we are focused on the Russians.
And what the current leader of Russia has demonstrated is his willingness to use military force as a political instrument in Europe and elsewhere. Your focus then on crisis management and shaping effective tools is really a key element of shaping a realistic way ahead.
And at the end of the day, if the Russians are focused on Arctic development, the only way this will happen because of the fragility of the region is by collaborative engagement.
Does it make sense then to think about crisis management and collaborative engagement at the same time?
Keith Eikenes: That is a good way to put it.
Engagement and deterrence go hand in hand in Norwegian policy.
We have always been able to have firmness and predictability at the same time as engagement and cooperation.
There’s a mutual interest in both in Norway and in Russia to maintain the Arctic as a stable region, and that’s something certainly that has been a Norwegian objective for most of the post-war era and continues to be so.
Question: A Danish colleague has focused recently in an interview on what he sees as the emergence of a Nordic Security Zone, which extends from the Arctic through to the Baltics.
In your view, how best to work with allies and partners to enhance effectiveness in the Nordic Security Zone?
Keith Eikenes: From the Norwegian point of view, NATO is the framework in which we address these security challenges in northern Europe.
But we are working hard with Sweden and Finland to expand our Nordic cooperation as well.
The Finns and Swedes are paying close attention to what’s going on now with regard to Russian behavior, the Baltic Sea in particular.
There’s an increasingly close dialogue among the Nordic countries now. Some of them are not NATO members obviously.
There is clearly renewed focus on Nordic-Baltic cooperation and working practical ways to enhance interoperability of our forces and as I mentioned earlier ways to shape more effective crisis management.
And we have seen as well an increased U.S. interest in an engagement in the Nordic cooperation and the Nordic-Baltic cooperation as well.
The U.S. plays a key role in the Nordic-Baltic setting.
And the UK has become an important player in the Nordic Security Zone as well.
The UK under then Defence Minister Liam Fox initiated the Northern Group Framework.
This Framework includes in the British perspective, Nordic countries, UK, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands in looking at security situation in Northern Europe.
I think there’s some real potential within that working framework as well to enhance defense and crisis management capabilities.
Question: There is considerable turbulence in Europe ranging from Brexit to the movement for Catalonian independence.
The importance of deterrence and crisis management as you are working it can be an important contribution as well to the next phase of European development.
In other words, even though this is about defense and security, the kind of collaborative interaction you are having with the UK, other Nordics, the Dutch, the Germans and the Balts can contribute as well to a broader European agenda.
How do you see that process?
Keith Eikenes: From a Norwegian perspective, a strong and stable Europe is crucial to our continued security and prosperity.
One of the things that we really need to try to avoid is supporting a narrative now of how Europe is sort of falling apart.
What we need to do is to shape a narrative and way ahead to pursue the next phase of European development within which defense and security are clearly important drivers as well.
An important goal here will be to strengthen the European pillar of the transatlantic security framework, and ensuring a more equitable burden-sharing.
Editor’s Note: If one looks back at the actions of then Minister of Defence Liam Fox, and of the government of which he was part, key elements of what might emerge as Brexit defense policy were already being put in place.
If one reads the press release by MoD issues on November 10, 2010 referred to above with regard to the Northern Europe initiative, the way ahead in shaping a post-Brexit defense policy was already foreshadowed.
The first forum of its kind, consisting of the Nordic and Baltic States plus Germany and Poland, will enable the UK to engage with countries who are not members of both NATO and the EU.
Following last week’s French-Anglo treaty this is a continuation of the UK’s drive to deepen bilateral and multilateral relations with our European neighbours.
Speaking in Oslo, Dr Fox said:
We cannot forget that geographically the United Kingdom is a northern European country. Let me be clear, this is not about carving out spheres of influence; this is about working together on mutual interests. For too long Britain has looked in every direction except its own backyard.
The goal here is to deepen bilateral and multilateral relationships with key regional partners, recognising and respecting sovereignty, but also recognising that today’s world is one of necessary partnership not optional isolation.
In this multipolar world, we need more and different levers to act in the interests of our national and joint security. Therefore, we want to create a new and wider framework that makes it easier for both NATO and non-NATO members to have a closer relationship in the region.
Reflecting on the contributions to the campaign in Afghanistan that the nations in the new forum have made, Dr Fox said:
Collectively the 11 countries participating here today contribute around 19,000 troops to ISAF’s mission in Afghanistan and provide the lead in six Provincial Reconstruction Teams. We are very proud that in Helmand today British troops are serving alongside our Danish and Estonian partners.
Talking about aspects of mutual interest to the new grouping, Dr Fox raised the subject of cyber security:
The UK’s new Defence Cyber Operations Group will seek to form strong international alliances to increase our mutual resilience and joint operational capabilities,” he said.
The Nordic nations have an enduring history of national resilience, rooted in the holistic concept of Total Defence, from which we all can learn; but this concept, developed during the past 50 years, must be remodeled to meet new threats, and here collaboration will be valuable.
Focusing on energy security matters, Dr. Fox said:
Stable bilateral relations will be an insufficient safeguard of our mutual energy security without measures to preserve the physical integrity of supply routes and sources in Europe and beyond.
The scale and complexity of these networks will increasingly require our combined efforts to protect them. For the United Kingdom this isn’t about telling our friends what we will do for them, or what they can do for us. This forum is about seeing what more we can do together.
It’s near zero hundred and we fly in dark skies over western Missouri.
The anticipation amps up on FORCE 26, a 305th Air Mobility Wing (AMW) KC-10 from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ (JBMDL).
I hurriedly gather my camera equipment and follow the crew to the refueling station.
FORCE 26 skims the top of a storm front, slipping in and out of clouds. The KC-10 rattles, thumps and bounces in the bone jarring turbulence.
I struggle to get seated and configure my camera for a hopeful, if not mercilessly difficult shot.
I can see nothing but heavy grey clouds below and deep black skies behind.
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Unseen, three thirsty Spirits are surely closing quickly.
To my right the boom operator, Senior Master Sergeant Carl Wise buckles in. Wise has 10 years on the boom but an eighteen-month hiatus requires his requalification. Tonight, is his check ride.
To his right sits active instructor and assessor, Tech Sergeant Adam Sochia. Sochia watches closely as Wise moves through system checks. An audible alarm sounds and warning light flashes. Oh no, not possibly now…
No additional drama required, but tonight we have it in spades.
Outwardly Wise and Sochia appear calm, proficient and thorough, but the tension in their voices is palpable. Radios crackle between Wise and the flight crew in the KC-10 cockpit. They too have noted the alarm, and together discuss appropriate action.
Despite years of experience Wise is now tested by the system and the conditions. His decision making and skills evaluated during in-flight refueling with the USAF’s most prized asset – in turbulent air at visibility limits.
Wise extends the boom and verifies complete movement and control.
Check.
Proceed.
Eyes outward, I am only peripherally aware of their challenges.
I have my own.
I frantically move through camera settings – looking for something, anything that will work in darkness beyond what I had imagined. Autofocus is out of the question, ISO settings through the roof, lens wide open, shutter speeds impossibly low…. I am out of time.
BAT 71 draws near at constant speed, her strobes flashing and command module glowing.
Is she beast, or some machine from the future? Whatever the case, these are her skies and she rises through the fog like a wraith to take …. our fuel.
Before she can connect we slip into the clouds.
I discern her outline a mere 100 ft off the boom, some 150 ft away. Enshrouded in cloud she stops and holds position, as if to study her prey before moving in.
We cut in and out of cloud catching glimpses of her dark and mysterious form.
Wisps of cloud flash eerily over her wings like flowing grey hair. City lights reappear as the jagged robe of her trailing edge passes by. We bounce and rattle through the skies, while BAT 71 glides smoothly behind.
This unearthly Spirit is at home in the dark and turbulent skies.
Sights like this may be common for boom operators, but leave a stark imprint on my mind and experience.
Surreal, Supernatural, Magic – no word, no description is adequate.
Yet make no mistake, in another place and at another time encountering three wraiths can only mean one thing – the impending doom of someone or something.
The B-2 Spirit is both the ultimate global deterrent and Grim Reaper.
Radios crackle, “Kansas City Center, FORCE 26, request climb to clear weather.” “FORCE 26, Kansas City Center cleared to climb and work airspace block 23 – to 28,000 ft.” “Climbing to work airspace block 23 – 28,000 ft. FORCE 26”
The KC-10 starts upward and BAT 71 follows as if suspended just off boom.
Breaking free from the clouds we find smooth, clear air. Wise, now in control of the refueling operation clears BAT 71 to connect. The Spirit slides forward. Though close to her home at Whiteman AFB, MO the B-2 Spirit has been aloft for near four hours and requests thousands of pounds of fuel.
Small talk non-existent, gas and go with a B-2 is often done with no words exchanged. In the best conditions an air to air connect is no simple task.
It is a choreography of dance between aircraft of all types and sizes – the two platforms briefly becoming one. The team on both sides of this boom are seasoned professionals and make this connect look as easy as walking up and shaking hands.
BAT 71 is on the boom and I ponder her mystery.
Operated by the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB the B-2 is the premier platform of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). Invisible by night, the stealthy B-2 bomber can penetrate heavily defended airspace and deliver a punishing knock-out blow.
Traveling around the globe from Whiteman AFB, the Spirit is well known to fly missions of over 24 hours.
Earlier this year the B-2 recorded a mission of over 30 hours requiring 15 aerial refuelings!
The 305th AMW and their force of KC-10 tankers at JBMDL enable the Global Reach of the USAF. On this mission we fly with crew from the 32nd Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) with the clear and accurate motto “Linking the Continents.” It is a simple fact, without units like the 305th AMW the Global Reach of the USAF would be severely diminished.
The importance and value of the mission is not lost on boom operators like Wise, who comments “a boom operators job offers instant satisfaction.
Every time we refuel an aircraft we enable it to complete its mission, whether in training, combat, or humanitarian relief.”
This job satisfaction explains why I find myself with 3 very experienced boom operators. All three are Instructors, including Master Sergeant Jessica Stockwell with 11 years’ experience.
The three are passionate and have found tremendous rewards in service. Stockwell notes that it is an incredible team effort from the maintenance group to the entire crew on the aircraft.
As it relates specifically to her role as in-flight refueler she says, “during preparation and flight the 2 pilots and flight engineer are responsible for everything that happens in the cockpit, the in-flight refueler is responsible for everything that happens outside the cockpit, air to air refueling, cargo, people and more. It is very rewarding to have that mission responsibility.”
Buffeted by turbulence BAT 71 drops briefly off the boom. As the turbulence subsides she slides back making another connect look effortless. This Spirit is not leaving without getting all her intended fuel. The entire encounter speaks of planning, precision and the utmost professionalism.
Dropping off the boom a final time, BAT 71 disappears into the night.
Under duress, SMSgt Wise passes his review and moves forward toward instructor requalification.
Sochia and Stockwell fuel BAT 72 & BAT 73. Time passes too quickly. Their thirst satisfied the bombers disappear into the dark skies to destination(s) unknown.
This was a training mission.
In the same fashion, the Spirits loaded with deadly ordnance which bcould be destined to strike a target on the other side of the globe.
B-2 Spirits are each identified with a unique U.S. State, such as “The Spirit of Missouri.”
I always considered the name “Spirit” in such context.
Zero Hundred, October 3 has forever changed my perspective.
“Spirit” as perhaps was always intended, is; “one emerging from the clouds, lights glowing, hair flowing, mysterious, ghostly – and most certainly, deadly.”
The Second Line of Defense team expresses gratitude to the 305th AMW, the 32nd ARS, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs Team Shaun Eagan, SrA Lauren Russell, A1C Zachary Martyn, the exceptional team of in-flight refuelers and entire flight crew of FORCE 26! All professionals through and through in the finest sense.
The Denel Dynamics Marlin missile is at an advanced stage of development, with test flights of the 100 km range radar-guided weapon having already been carried out.
Marlin is a radar-guided beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile technology demonstrator and the intention is to also use Marlin technology in an all-weather surface-to-air version.
It is being developed by Denel Dynamics under an Armscor/Department of Defence technology demonstrator contract.
According to Ivan Gibbons, Chief systems engineer at Denel Dynamics, various tests have been carried out, such as rocket motor firings and firing of a largely complete missile from the Denel Overberg Test Range two years ago using a ground-mounted launcher to test the missile’s manoeuvrability and flight characteristics. The missile has also been fitted to a pod mounted on a South African Air Force (SAAF) Gripen fighter. Denel Dynamics is now heading towards a guided flight test that will use the radar seeker to shoot down a target drone.
Gibbons, speaking at a presentation organised by the Aeronautical Society of South Africa (AeSSA), explained that the Marlin uses a dual pulse rocket motor for extended range (two fuel chambers and one exhaust nozzle). For long range engagements the first pulse fires and the missile glides towards its target before the second pulse fires at a later point in time. For shorter engagements, both pulses can be fired almost simultaneously. Top speed could be around Mach 4. Flight control is by servo motor controlled fins.
Gibbons said there were many challenging issues to be dealt with when designing a missile like Marlin, such as high G loads (at least 30 Gs), vibration on the aircraft, electromagnetic interference, the effects of flying through rain, and thermal shock. As an example the missile has to operate in -50 degree Celsius temperatures while the leading edges of the missile can reach up to 900 degrees Celsius once launche
Denel Dynamics is working with Armscor on Marlin, as well as other entities like Saab – the latter is especially important since the Marlin is being fitted to the Gripen. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) did wind tunnel testing of the missile while the Test Flight and Development Centre (TFDC) and Denel Overberg Test Range have been used for test firings. Another important partner is Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), which provided the rocket motor.
Although the Marlin is a technology demonstrator at the moment, it is likely that it will be used by the South African Air Force (SAAF), as the SAAF currently lacks a beyond visual range (BVR) missile and at present only has the interim infrared guided IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile (SRAAM) in service, although the Denel Dynamics A-Darter SRAAM is about to enter service – final acceptance of this will be completed before the end of the year.
Denel Dynamics also sees Marlin configured into an all-weather surface-to-air missile. Common subsystems will be used for the different variants of the weapon, with some components tailored specifically for the relevant application of the missile.
Although Marlin is fully funded by the Department of Defence via Armscor, Denel Dynamics is looking for an international partner to collaborate with during the future development programme.
Republished by permission of our partner, defenceWeb.
With the cross learning among the combat forces as they shape more effective integrated combat forces to prevail in a contested environment, the business rules need to change to adapt platforms more rapidly to evolving combat requirements.
The force will be built around core multi-mission platforms, which are software upgradeable.
The challenge will be to ensure that those platforms are more rapidly upgraded and modernized.
The answer is large part to shape business rules that allow the combat users to work directly with the software code writers to provide for what the RAAF refers to as gaining software transient advantage.
The legacy requirements setting process in DoD needs to be replaced by a new set of business rules which allow for such cross development and modernization.
Put bluntly, DoD is not in the software age even though several of their cutting edge platforms are.
Let me be even more blunt: our own business rules guarantee that we will not take full advantage of the software upgradeable platforms we are ALREADY buying.
And to be even blunter, our own overly bureaucratic and multiple layered testing and requirements community will guarantee that we will sub optimize the performance and success of our combat force.
To take one case, the new Triton unmanned aircraft is a cutting edge capability which the US and Australia are about to deploy in the maritime domain awareness kill web mission area.
The impact of the Triton will change the approach to maritime domain awareness and strike.
As one senior Canadian ASW officer put it with regard to the coming of UAVs to the maritime strike space:
“Is the next approach to park UAVs to monitor a wide, wide area and your manned platform becomes a sonobuoy carrier where it goes and lays barriers and then it leaves? Does the manned platform become the shooter in a broad UAV enabled sensor grid?”
Put bluntly, the Triton is part of game changing technology.
It is carrying significant F-35 technologies onboard and is of course compete software upgradeable. But because of the way DoD sets and managed requirements, the dynamic adaptive capability of a flexible software system which can provide for transient software advantage will be undercut from its full performance by the antiquated requirements setting process.
This is not about technology – it is about the business rules governing the management of upgrades. It is a horse and buggy approach to managing 21st century assets.
The core issue is that as the services shift more towards core platforms which ARE software upgradeable, the challenge to upgrade becomes more significant.
With regard to a system like Triton something more flexible like the SOF acquisition approach but applied to core platforms needs to emerge.
In the Triton case, the Navy could have easily spent several years more fixing the software gripes for the platform about to be deployed. But then it would not be deployed and the user feedback, which is central to development, would not become determinate in further development.
This created a problem even in terms of how to describe the nature of the first deployment – it is not really an IOC deployment but what to call it. We could call it early operational deployment but that would send the wrong signal but really how do we best describe what we are doing and what we need to do to modernize a software upgradeable platform?
160113-N-AT895-251 PATUXENT RIVER Md. (Jan. 13, 2016) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson views the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Richardson also held an all-hands call, toured facilities and viewed aircraft and systems including the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter . (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathan Laird/Released)
According to one source: “If you use the term early deployment it would suggest that you are cutting something short from what you originally started out to do and that is not the case.
“If you go back to the milestones set in the 2007-2008 time frame and the requirements set at the time, we are delivering virtually everything.
“We are delivering on the ESM, the EO/IR, the AIS, the basic sensor suite, the performance of the air vehicle and how we manage the data – we are meeting these baseline capabilities but not fully in how we will do as the software and its integration evolves.”
They are calling it EOC for early operational capability in spite of the problems with such a label.
“You have something that’s real, that can be operated and provides value to your customer.
“The notion of continuing to fine tune the software without operational experience makes no freaking sense.”
And where they want to go cannot be easily funded in terms of the current acquisition approach. They would like to in effect isolate the flight system from the sensor systems so that they can more easily upgrade the sensor suites with cards and chips as required.
“For me, an ability to pace the threat, you don’t need to worry about the flight side of the software so much.
“You worry about the mission side of it.
“And so, what we’ve figured out how to do is segregate the two we can have a much more rapid insertion of software on the mission systems side which is what needs to evolve with the threat.”
Another source highlighted the core business rule problem: “The challenge is that today the funding cycle needs long lead times to request a specific upgrade, and that makes no sense given the evolution of software itself.
“We don’t fund appropriate to software upgradeable aircraft.
“With today’s system I have a onesie-twosie approach. For example, I want a weather radar so I request 30 million dollars to do a weather radar. In need to provide an issue sheet four years in advance so that I can start working on getting weather radar. That clearly makes no sense if you want to keep pace with the threat with a software upgradeable program.
“You have to have the money in hand so that you can react and immediately and to go the contractor and say, here is 10 million dollars and modify the software to give me this new capability.
“Unless you have the money in hand, you will not be able to fund software upgradeability in a way that makes any sense given the evolving operational experience which is informing the upgrade effort itself.”
A presentation earlier this year by the head of Air Force Materiel Command hit this issue head on.
We have to change the way we think about requirements definition if we’re going to really adopt Agile Software Development.
“Maybe the answer isn’t this detailed requirements’ slow down.”
“By the way, once you put it in the hands of the operator maybe some of those requirements you had in the beginning, maybe they don’t make any sense anymore because the operator sees how they can actually use this and they change it.”
She went on to highlight what the Aussies are doing in Willliamtown with Wedgetail without mentioning them at all.
“You need to put the coder and the user together…
“We have to empower at the right level, and that has to be at the level of the person that’s going to use the software, and we have to stop thinking about independent OT.”
Also in play is another business rule change – getting rid of needless competition.
Competition is certainly a good thing except when it is simply an excuse to provide the force with the kind of equipment which can allow it prevail in a contested environment.
With regard to modernization built upon software upgradeability, once the key platform is chosen and the prime has been selected, the users are now working with a core software development team throughout the life of that program.
As General Ellen Pawlikowski, Commander of Air Force Materiel Command, put it in her presentation:
“The teams are there for life.
“I don’t mean that it’s one person, but we don’t think about putting a team together to do the development and then push them out the door.
“That team stays with that system forever…
“We need to make the user the operational user and acceptance authority.
“Perhaps we need to shift to more use of time and materials contracts to support such teams.”
In the case of one core Naval program, the prime owns the software developed for and with the Navy, the prime has developed middleware and the evolution of new specific capabilities are driven by work in a lab developing apps for this combat program. And in that lab a majority of the companies present are not the prime and are populated by several types of companies, notably smaller ones.
Shifting the business rules is what is required not pining for some kind of abstract and mythical third offset.
One way to conceptualize the shift is simply to ask what business rules need to be put in place to allow this to happen?
The RAF officer in charge of the ISTAR force described this shift to strategic acquisition leadership as opposed to hierarchical assurance of slow mo software upgrades as follows:
“We have the iPhone 6 generation in the Force now, yesterday’s analogue approach to our business is no longer appropriate.
“With the aperture fully open, the individual platforms and capabilities become the apps that enable the integrated Force ‘iPhone’.
“Thinking of it in this way, will allow us to tap this new generation of warriors.”
He also seeks to build a sense of strategic purpose and community from bottom to top.
He cited the example of when President Johnson met a janitor at the NASA space center in Houston and when asked what he was doing, the janitor replied: “I am helping put a man on the moon, Mr. President.”
“We are driving to a similar mindset in the ISTAR Force – everyone contributing regardless of where they work.”
He argued that this perspective was essential to mission success.
“The paradigm shift needs to be cultural and organizational if the ISTAR force with a large F to become a reality.
“We are going from a tradition where we have operated isolated force elements to one where an integrated force can deliver 24/7 support and we need to shape a Whole Force solution approach.”
Getting it right for ISTAR is critical to the success of the RAF’s contributions to operations and to the UK’s intelligence and understanding of the world.
The Air Commodore concluded:
“One cannot simply pause, and recapitalize the force in a vacuous power point exercise.
“It is about transformation ‘in contact’ and ensuring that we leverage maximum integrated capability from the new platforms coming to the RAF, while re-brigading the legacy systems as best we can and putting in place the foundations required for an adaptable, upgradeable and technology driven capital F force in the 2025 time frame and beyond.”
2017-10-14 According to a UK MoD article published on September 26, 2017, the Welsh based RAF Valley Air Station has been modernized to play its role in the introduction of the F-35 and the evolution of the Typhoon-F-35 core to the RAF strike force.
The station is primarily used for advanced fast jet training for pilots and, whilst the previous infrastructure was strong enough for the Hawk aircraft, it has been restored to support pilots training in the likes of Tornados and Typhoons.
A £20 million contract was awarded to refurbish the ageing runway and its link taxiways. The work undertaken will also provide a new section of airside perimeter road, new visual aids, aeronautical lighting and signage for the air station.
The restoration work will extend the life of the runway by a further 25 years, demonstrating the UK’s commitment to Defence in Wales.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:
This famous runway has been an integral part of the careers of generations of fast-jet pilots who have seen action across the world and are currently leading RAF strikes against Daesh.
I’m delighted that this investment will see the runway play that vital role for at least another 25 years, training new pilots in the skills they need to help keep us safe when flying the next generation of aircraft.
The fighter pilots who graduate go on to fly Typhoon and F35 Lightning II aircraft which secure the skies of the UK and overseas.
The station is also home to helicopter flying training where aircrew learn the skills required for mountains and maritime flying with the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The Mountain Rescue Service which saves lives across the UK is also based at RAF Valley.
The Defence Secretary visited RAF Valley, September 2017. Credit: UK MoD
The UK currently has 11 F-35B jets being flown in the US and 120 UK personnel being trained there. By the end of the year the UK will have 14 of the jets, with initial flight trials from the brand new Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier’s deck planned for next year.
As the US’ only Tier 1 partner, UK industry will provide around 15% of every F-35 jet which is built, and later today, the Defence Secretary will also visit the Defence Electronics & Components Agency (DECA), based at MOD Sealand, in North East Wales.
The facility was chosen as the global repair hub providing maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for F-35 avionic and aircraft components. Over the lifetime of the programme, components for hundreds of European-based F-35 aircraft will be serviced and maintained at the site.
The work will generate hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue for the UK defence industry, with the potential to unlock more than £2bn of future F-35 support revenue over the lifetime of the programme, sustaining thousands of high tech jobs and skills.
A newly-refurbished hangar at RAF Valley will also house three brand-new Jupiter helicopters which will be used to train pilots from all three Services, delivered as part of the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS).
These state-of-the-art Airbus helicopters, which closely recreate the cockpits and controls of front-line aircraft, are due to begin flying from RAF Valley later this year. The refurbishment of the hangar is part of an infrastructure improvement programme being delivered through the UKMFTS at both RAF Valley and RAF Shawbury worth a total of around £80 million.
Station Commander Royal Air Force Valley, Group Captain Nick Tucker-Lowe, said:
The visit of the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon today has highlighted RAF Valley’s vital contribution to UK defence as the home of fighter pilot training.
Our team of military personnel, Civil Servants and industry partners take great pride in their role of training the next generation of fighter pilots for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. With our refurbished main runway, we are well prepared for the future.
UK Government Minister for Wales Guto Bebb said:
This investment in the runway is a huge boost to RAF Valley. It further demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment to defence in Wales and the North Wales economy.
It is great to see Wales playing such an important role in the advancement of our defence services and with an extra 25 years now on the lifespan of this site, the future of RAF Valley and the local economy remains strong.
2017-10-14 The F-22 was labelled a “Cold War” aircraft by the last President and became a key target for Secretary Gates in terms of moving the USAF into a key role for supporting the ground forces, rather than providing for multi-mission air dominance for a much wider range of tasks, notably preparing for high temp and high intensity operations.
As a result, there are many fewer F-22s than originally anticipated, and the DoD did what is too often its usual practice of terminating a program when it has reached an effective price point.
What has happened is that the F-22 as it has deployed globally has expanded its interactions with a variety of new or evolving key combat assets and has demonstrated why it is a powerful enhancer of combat more generally, and integrated air combat in particular.
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Discussions with Growler or Wedgetail pilots and crews have highlighted how the F-22s Training, Tactics and Procedures (TTPs) have evolved as these aircraft work more closely together in the evolving battlespace.
The role of the F-22 within Inherent Resolve have demonstrated the C2, ISR and strike functionalities of the aircraft working within an integrated air combat force.
Recently, F-22s have returned to Langley AFB from Inherent Resolve.
According to an October 1, 2017 press release from 1st Fighter Wing Squadron:
JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – Over 100 members assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing returned to Langley Air Force Base today after a 6 month deployment to the Middle East. During their deployment, F-22 Raptors participated in Operation INHERENT RESOLVE against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Airmen assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing return home after a 6-month deployment to the Middle East, Oct. 12, 2017. The deployment consisted of F-22 Raptors and Airmen representing the 1st FW in Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Carlin Leslie)
“I can’t be more proud of our Airmen,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Jason T. Hinds, 1st FW Commander. “They did fantastic work operating and maintaining the F-22 for a prolonged period of combat operations. Well done.”
While the 1st FW’s 27th Fighter Squadron was the lead element deployed, they were joined by personnel from the 27th Aircraft Maintenance Unit as well as Virginia Air National Guard Airmen assigned to the 192nd Fighter Wing.
“When we go to combat, it is truly a total force effort with our 192nd FW partners,” said Hinds.
The 1st FW homecoming was not quite complete, as some F-22s remained in Europe as part of the European Deterrence Initiative. “The F-22 is America’s premier air dominance fighter, and our mission to Europe provides us an opportunity to train with our allies and strengthen our partnerships.” said Hinds.
While in the Europe, the F-22s will also forward deploy from the United Kingdom to other NATO bases to maximize training opportunities, demonstrate our steadfast commitment to NATO allies and deter any actions that destabilize regional security.
Canada has placed a priority on anti-submarine warfare in its NATO contribution.
According to the Royal Canadian Air Force Chief of Staff, Lt. General Hood, “I am exceptionally proud of our ASW capability and when I couple it with the new advanced capability on our upgraded frigates, I see us a backbone of NATO’s ASW capability.”
The current ASW capabilities of Canada are built around an upgraded CP-140 with the acquisition of a new CH-148 Cyclone ASW helicopter and the modernization of the Canadian frigates integrated into the ASW coalition operations.
Over the decade ahead as the maritime domain awareness and strike enterprise is reworked with the coming of the P-8 and the Triton (among other assets) Canada will add an unmanned capability, continue upgrading the CP-140 and work closely with the allies in reshaping the maritime domain awareness and strike networks.
And added to that as well will be new satellite sensor and communications systems as well.
In addition to modernization of the Canadian variant of the P-3, Canada is adding a unique maritime helicopter to the mix, the CH-148 Cyclone.
The helicopter was crafted as a replacement for the Sea King, which would operate mission systems similar to the MH-60R (used by the US Navy and allies) into a larger aircraft, which could do a range of missions, including ASW, ASuW, HDS, SAR, with no or minimal reconfiguration of the aircraft.
And the helicopter had to be designed to land on Canadian sized frigates in high sea states.
The Cyclone at sea onboard a Halifax frigate in high seas. Credit: Sikorsky
The high sea state environment was a calibration made from calculations of deck accelerations.
The helicopter also had to fit within the Canadian concepts of operations, whereby the crew could multi-task while in flight, without a need to return to the ship to reconfigure for changing missions.
The new helicopter is built on a commercial S-92 foundation but the defense customizations fit where 21st century technology was going, namely an information, communications and decision making transformation.
And the work flow onboard the helicopter very much fits into what the Block 3 upgrade to Aurora provides along with the P-8 — the front end and back end of the aircraft shape a workflow for the entire flight and work crew. Screens in the cockpit of both the Cyclone and the Aurora bring the data in the back forward to the cockpit.
A work in progress is to determine exactly who does what, but SA for Search and Rescue is now available to the front end of the aircraft which obviously allows for better decision-making and outcomes with regard to the new helicopter.
What the helicopter will connect to in terms of information flow is a work in progress, but the platform is coming to the force PRECISELY when the entire maritime domain awareness and strike enterprise in the North Atlantic is being reworked, and this helicopter has the information tools to both contribute to and leverage the new approaches being shaped.
A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter moves into position over the flight deck of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal for refuelling on April 20, 2016 off the coast of Nova Scotia.
We had a chance to visit 12 Wing Shearwater located in Nova Scotia on September 18, 2017. We first had an opportunity to tour the helicopter and get briefed as well as to sit down and discuss the Wing and the way ahead with the Wing Commander, Colonel Sid Connor.
We started by discussing the challenges of building a new maritime helicopter, which met the requirements set by the Canadian Air Force. The Canadians were seeking a maritime helicopter, which did not exist off the shelf in any allied Navy air force, but opted to develop a unique helicopter, which met a specific set of requirements.
Although one could note that having developed an aircraft which can combine advanced ASW within a larger air frame for multi-tasking, the Canadian RCAF may have stimulated the development of a maritime helicopter clearly of interest to other navies, notably those operating off of smaller ships.
Colonel Sid Connor: “Our requirements were tough because we operate under a different philosophy in our maritime helicopter fleet than do our allies. We focus on our crews doing autonomous operations as we leave the ship, which is not the norm for maritime helos.
“Normally, you’re very dependent on getting tactical direction from the ship. Whereas in our case, though we can operate that way and we do, we also have the ability to be autonomous and we prioritize our ability to retask during operations. Rather than landing on our ships and then repurposing our helos, we want to be able to do such repurposing built into the helicopter itself.
“This led to requiring a larger helicopter to do ASW and the multi-missions, which we want to do with the helicopter.
“And all of this leads to the complexity of the requirements of the Cyclone flying ready to do any mission because you don’t have the option to go back to the ship. We want to reconfigure the aircraft as you transition from an ASW mission to an anti-surface mission, for example.
“That’s what led us to our requirements for the Cyclone being more robust than for the S-60-Romeo where they are configured for a certain role when they take off.”
Question: What is your current status with the Cyclone?
Colonel Sid Connor: “We are now in the late stages of phase one of introducing the Cyclone into service. We just started our first conversion-training course for pilots at the Wing.
“The training is being done as part of the ISS contract with Sikorsky at our training squadron here at the Wing. We are in the process of taking ownership of the simulators as part of the standup of training as well.
Question: During our visit to the Cyclone, your staff provided an excellent overview to the aircraft, and we discussed with them how the new technologies onboard the helicopter facilitated a change in the work flow. The crew was sharing a common operational picture based upon which they could work as a team.
In other words, it is not just about the technology but shaping a new workflow?
Colonel Sid Connor: “Absolutely. The tactical officers in the back of the aircraft are in charge of working the missions, while the pilot focuses on flying the aircraft. That continues as a key thread but now there is a clear opportunity to move tasks around onboard the aircraft as appropriate to the mission.
“Depending on the mission, and the conditions and different flight regimes, we will choose to push tasks that are primarily done in the backend, we can actually push to the front end as appropriate.
“On an older aircraft, the two pilots in the cockpit focused almost exclusively on flying. Because the Cyclone is a fly by wire aircraft, depending on the regime of flight, the aircraft is flying the aircraft.
“There will be a primary pilot who’s monitoring aircraft flight and that frees up the second pilot to take on some of those mission tasks, to be operating the EOIR system, for example, or adjusting the radar or taking over tasks that maybe are not the primary task related to the mission you’re doing, but is still important with regard to augmenting information. It’s information flow, management of information, for sure, that’s going to be important to keep that crew dynamic going.
“The Cyclone is an information rich aircraft and managing the flow of information to determine how best to meet the task is a key challenge and opportunity generated by the new technologies onboard Cyclone.
Question: How have you prepared for the new workflow?
Colonel Sid Connor: “The first time we really analyzed this in any kind of detail for this platform, was during a training needs analysis before the contractor award. We understood from the outset that the technology that was going to be available would change the workflow. During different regimes of flight, who would be doing which primary tasks?”
Question: One could make a simple point, namely that this is not a problem facing the Sea King, but it is not a platform born in the information age. How are you shaping a way ahead to deal with the shift?
Colonel Sid Connor: “During takeoff the pilots are concentrating on flying. All the tasks will be done in the back. As you get into different regimes of flight, especially if you’re not going into the hover for example, then the piloting task is less of a load. Therefore, the non-flying pilot would be able to take on some of these other tasks, so we have worked through that approach. Now knowing the equipment that we’re dealing with, we’ve thought it through again. But we really won’t know until we go out and test our assumptions in actual operations.
“But it is a key part of leveraging the technology and shaping decision-making approaches as we go forward.”
Question: The aircraft is also a digital aircraft and as such maintenance will be quite different. How would describe this difference?
Colonel Sid Connor: “There’s an awful less fixing things and a lot more changing components. Getting inside the black box isn’t going to be very common for us. It’s going to be taking out the black box and replace it with a functioning black box, right.
“The maintenance network that we’re tied into with the similarities from the CH-148 and the S-92 and that’s, again, we’ve started in a position that’ll evolve. The other interesting thing is, is there’s a little more motivation on Sikorsky than would be otherwise, in that in our ISS contract, we don’t own, for example, any of the spares for this aircraft. When the spares are off aircraft, they’re owned by the contractor and there’s an obligation for those spares to be available to us when we need them.
“It’s what we call power by the hour. They get paid in the ISS contract dependent upon how much we fly and at certain percentages of availability throughout the contract. It’s in their best interest to make it more maintainable, to make it more efficient flight hour per maintenance hour. For example, it’s their bottom line that’s impacted, not ours.
“We currently have a 25-year contract with Sikorsky with regard to parts and related issues.”
Question: A very tough requirement is to operate in very high sea states. And you have asked the Cyclone to land in sea states that other maritime helicopters are really not optimized to operate in. How did this requirement develop?
Colonel Sid Connor: “The requirement to operate a Sea State 6 is not directly connected to the upgrades to Halifax class. They are related more to our history than anything else.
“When we lost our carriers but had the Sea King we had to find a way to operate the Sea King off of a smaller ship. We pioneered a system in Canada with Canadian technology to do so, and we developed what became known as the RAST system, which is now used by other navies as well.
“We are North Atlantic and Pacific folks and so we see heavier sea states for a higher portion of our time than some other allied navies.
“So these two requirements – operating off of a smaller ship and regularly having to operate in high sea states – drove the need to have our larger ASW multi-mission helicopter operate to meet these requirements.
“When we set the requirements, we initially focused on pitch and roll. But our scientific community came back to us and indicated that it was not really pitch and roll, which we were interested in, it was really about deck accelerations. We then did the calculations and we determined that we needed to operate above sea state four closer to sea state 6.”
Question: How important is NATO cooperation for your efforts?
Colonel Sid Connor: “It is obviously important and we both sponsor and participate in NATO North Atlantic exercises. And with the return of the Russian challenge, obviously ASW has returned as a key capability for the NATO navies. There is a lot more cooperation on these issues now than we saw in the 1990s.
“ASW is becoming a key priority, which provides an important reinforcement of the need to invest in this area of competence. As a small air force, we have to shift resources to the highest areas of need or priority; with the ASW focus, this highlights the importance of what we do within the overall defense forces.
“And we receive a great deal of support from the Royal Canadian Navy because we provide a core capability for their operations, even though we are an Air Force asset.”
Question: How does the Cyclone fit into the way ahead with regard to information management and decision-making?
Colonel Sid Connor: “We are a connected asset with Link 11 and are looking to add Link 16. But we are designed to operate without a need to download data to a ship to process our data.
“We have standalone kit on the helicopter, which allows us to mission system planning and decision making as required. We don’t have to plug into the ship with our mission data. After a flight, we plug it into our own system, analyze it, and then push out the relevant data.
“We are designed to operate as a single ship up to engagement within a task force. And as such we need to operate on our own or to network as required with the task force, without having to do so to execute our basic missions.
“As the networks evolve, you have to look at the whole picture. You have to look at all the players. You don’t know for sure when you’re collecting data where ultimately that sensor shooter equation will be executed going forward. And we have to evolve with this approach as well.
“And in this shift it is about the management of information and getting the right information to the right people in a timely manner.”
Question: Moving from Sea Kings to Cyclones is bringing about a shift in cultures as well because of the technological shifts and the work flow shifts. How will you deal with the culture change?
Colonel Sid Connor: “We have elements of our culture that we absolutely must maintain and we have elements of our culture that going forward we absolutely must drop. We need to figure out which is which and that will happen as we operate and shape lessons learned from our operations. We really won’t know the right answers until we operate and learn from those operations. But culture change is clearly part of the challenge.
“We are doing exercises this Fall and next year which will help shape our thinking about load sharing within the helicopter in executing missions more effectively. The first will be the Submarine Commanders Course and the next will be at RIMPAC 2018.”
Colonel Sid Connor
Colonel Sid Connor joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1991 and earned his wings as an Air Combat Systems Officer (ACSO) in 1993.
His operational flying was with 423 (MH) Squadron where he deployed several times in HMCS’s FRASER, PRESERVER, IROQUOIS and VILLE DE QUEBEC. At 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron his duties included instructing on Maritime Helicopter (MH) Crew Commander, MH Tactical Coordinator (TACCO), Helicopter Towed Array Support (HELTAS) TACCO and Sensor Operator (SENSO) courses.
Colonel Connor’s staff appointments include 12 Wing Staff Officer for the MH Program, Executive Assistant to the 1 Canadian Air Division A3, Operational Requirements and Training Manager for the Maritime Helicopter Project, Chief of Staff (COS) Coordinator at Canadian Joint Operations Command, Coordinator for the Director of Structure Integration and as staff in the Directorate of Strategic Coordination within the Chief of Force Development team.
Colonel Connor has command experience as Commanding Officer of the Helicopter Operational Test and Evaluation Facility (HOTEF), Commanding Officer of 12 Wing Operations, and as the Air Component Commander for Op NANOOK 2011. In 2015 he was the Deputy Director Combat Operations Division as an embedded officer within the 609th Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in AFCENT. Since July 2017, Colonel Connor is the Commander of 12 Wing.
Col Connor completed the Joint Command Staff Programme at the Canadian Forces College and the United States Air Force Air War College at Maxwell AFB. He holds a Bachelor of Military Arts and Science and Master in Defence Studies both from Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC), in Kingston, as well as a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Air Force Air University.
The RAST System
A helicopter deck(or helo deck) is a helicopter pad on the deck of a ship, usually located on the stern and always clear of obstacles that would prove hazardous to a helicopter landing. In the United States Navy, it is commonly and properly referred to as the flight deck
In the Royal Navy, landing on is usually achieved by first lining up on the port quarter parallel to the ship’s heading, then once the deck motion is deemed to be acceptable the pilot sidesteps the aircraft laterally using a white painted line (the bum line) as a reference.
Shipboard landing for some helicopters is assisted though use of a haul-down device that involves attachment of a cable to a probe on the bottom of the aircraft prior to landing. Tension is maintained on the cable as the helicopter descends, assisting the pilot with accurate positioning of the aircraft on the deck; once on deck locking beams close on the probe, locking the aircraft to the flight deck. This device was pioneered by the Royal Canadian Navy and was called “Beartrap“. The U.S. Navy implementation of this device, based on Beartrap, is called the “RAST” system (for Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse) and is an integral part of the LAMPS Mk III (SH-60B) weapons system.
Operating helicopters from the deck of naval vessels in poor weather is a significant challenge demanding the highest levels of skill and a number of technologies.
Small vessels like frigates, destroyers and offshore patrol vessels represent an even greater challenge, for obvious reasons.
Regardless of wave and weather helicopter operations must continue if essential activities like anti submarine warfare are required.
In addition to training and avionics a number of systems exist that allow a helicopter to be secured to the heaving, rolling and pitching flight deck and once secured, moved into the hangar.
Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain and Taiwan use the the Curtis Wright (Indal Technologies RAST(Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse) system. US Navy ships use RAST, except the LCS, where the MacTaggart Scott TRIGON is installed. RAST is a development of a system used by the Royal Canadian Navy in the 1960s’.
RAST assists with landing and is then used to move the helicopter (or UAV) into the hangar using a rail embedded into the flight deck and hangar.
The operation sequence is as follows;
The typical operation of the RAST system begins with the pilot making a normal approach to the flight deck and establishing a hover. The messenger cable is lowered to the deck and is manually connected to the main recovery assist tethering cable, which is then hauled up to the helicopter and automatically locked into the main RAST probe.
During a period of quiescence in the ship’s motion, the pilot requests the LSO to apply tension to the recovery assist cable. This tension produces a strong centering effect to stabilize the hover and directs the helicopter toward the designated landing area, as the pilot slowly flies the craft down. Immediately upon touchdown, the LSO closes the RSD’s arresting beams securing the helicopter probe. The aircraft is ready to be aligned and traversed into the hangar.
The RSD is often referred to as the ‘bear trap’
RAST requires personnel on deck to secure and position the helicopter and an operator, the aircraft pilot alone can not operate the system. It is also not suitable for helicopters with nose wheels but can be used to enable recovery in up to Sea State 5 conditions. Because on the SH60 the probe is not at the centre of rotation, once down, the RSD is released in one direction to enable the helicopter to be positioned ready for the movement.
To enable use with other helicopter types Indal also produce the ASIST and TC-ASIST system.
MacTaggart Scott (another one of these brilliant UK defence manufacturers very few have heard about) pioneered helicopter recovery systems.
Their TRIGON system was originally developed for use with the Wasp helicopter and much smaller flight deck. As the Lynx replaced Wasp, the same system was developed and used.
The deck lock system requires the pilot to hover over a steel grid in order to deploy the locking ‘harpoon’.
Once engaged the hydraulic actuator system, from Claverham, pulls the helicopter onto the deck, compressing the oleo leg in conjunction with negative thrust from the rotor. This system can secure the helicopter to the deck without needing any personnel to approach it, an important safety consideration.
The deck lock grid is available from a number of manufacturers and widely used.
Editor’s Note: The slideshow above shows the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter operating from the flight deck of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal on April 20, 2016 off the coast of Nova Scotia. Photos: Leading Seaman Dan Bard, Formation Imaging Services, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
With the significant operational tempo on the US tanker fleet and with the inability to replace the older KC-135s expeditiously, the KC-10s have become a workhorse of the USAF tanker fleet.
Earlier some questioned the value of a larger tanker in doing the wide variety of missions which the KC-135 was built to do.
But the facts are the facts; and the KC-10 has demonstrated without doubt the flexibility of a larger tanker in supporting a wide variety of combat missions.
Past interviews with the USAF tanking community has highlighted the enhanced role of the KC-10s with the twin challenges of no new tanker and readiness issues with the aging KC-135 fleet.
Another large tanker has also demonstrated the flexibility provided by a larger tanker to a variety of combat missions, namely, the A330 MRTT or in Aussie parlance the KC-30A.
In the slideshow below, during an October 24, 2016 operation in the Middle East, the KC-10 and the KC-30A are seen flying in formation for the first time.
The combined refuelers were capable of delivering more than 576,000 pounds of fuel to coalition aircraft supporting the liberation of Mosul, Iraq.
The U.S. Air Force photos are credited to USAF Senior Airman Tyler Woodward
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The RAAF cross trains with the USAF on the KC-10 as well.
According to an interview we did with RAAF KC-30A tanker crew last year during their time at Edwards AFB, this is what they said about this process:
Question: You are reshaping the tanker culture?
Where do your crews come from and how are they preparing for the boom part of your tanker’s future?
Answer: We have a mixture of people with fighter, tanker and airlift experience.
It is a mixed crew in terms of background.
And we have an exchange with the USAF with the KC-10 are building up our boom training and experience with them as well.
I have argued earlier in a Breaking Defense piece, that KC-10 replacement could take concurrently with the KC-135 replacement but simply buying the KC-30A. And this would provide an additional advantage, of the US buying into a large globally operational fleet in which combat lessons have already been learned and the users are driving Tanker 2.0 or put in other terms are adding new capabilities to a combat proven fleet.
Not only does the US Air Force have NO operational new tankers, but the allies have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Air Force made the right initial decision picking this aircraft over Boeing’s KC-46 offering.
Two Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft sit on the flightline at sunset in the Middle East Region during Operation OKRA. Aircraft tail swaps occur routinely across all platforms. They ensure aircraft deployed and at home location remain on scheduled maintenance cycles and comply with mandated airworthiness requirements. Credit: Australian Department of Defence
Our allies are operating multiple A330 MRTTs so commonality has already been established and significant investments by allies in a needed US capability already in place.
For example, the Aussies are about to add an operational autonomous boom to their KC-30As. According to the RAAF Commander in charge of lift and tanking: “If it can anticipate and react to movements of the receiver aircraft faster than the boom operator can, then you end up with faster contacts. You also potentially end up with more consistent contacts when the turbulence level increases, in cloud or when night falls.”
The Aussies are moving onto Tanker 2.0 while the US Air Force is still waiting for Tanker 1.0. This makes no sense.
With the need to ramp up capabilities for high tempo and high intensity operations slo mo procurement simply will undercut USAF capabilities to prevail in contested airspace.
The USAF needs to aim for dominance in the contested battlespace and to do so requires changing the business rules to shape a more realistic and rapid acquisition process, and with the key elements of combat dominance already flying, it is a question of acquiring and integrating these new assets.
The RAAF has been working innovations with the KC-30A to shape a more effective lift and tanking force for high tempo operations in contested airspace.
As such, the Aussies participated in the recent Air Mobility Guardian 2017 Exercise.
“The exercise was the first of its type held in a very long time.
“The exercise focused on integrating the efforts of several partner air forces using their air mobility fleets in contested airspace to support force insertion.
“We were required to seize an airfield, establish a point of disembarkation, and through that process we were required to conduct aeromedical evacuations and airdrop missions to support ground forces.”
A key part of the exercise was working tactics and procedures with fighters to provide force protection for the air mobility fleet as it operated to support the force insertion effort.
US F-15s and A-10s accompanied the air mobility fleet in shaping the tactics and procedures for operating the fleet in a contested air environment.
The exercise has been two years in the making. Approximately 50 aircraft were involved with several thousand airmen participating in the exercise.
The Aussies brought their C-17 and KC-30A crews to the exercise as well as air dispatch, aeromedical evacuation, force protection and contingency response personnel.
A key challenge within the exercise was shaping interoperable procedures for operating in a contested air environment as each air force had evolved its own procedures over time.
Clearly with a higher tempo operation getting significant sortie generation rates and air dropped delivery is crucial to combat success.
“Our operations for over a decade in the Middle East have been largely in uncontested airspace where we’ve had control.
“In this exercise, we were really testing the readiness of our forces to rise to the next level and work in a challenging environment, and challenging environment it was.
“The exercise program was ambitious.
“It ran twenty-four hours a day for ten days.
“There was no let up, and everyone in the exercise was working hard.”
The slideshow below highlights a series of USAF photos of the KC-30A participating in Air Mobility Guardian 2017.
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In short, the larger tankers have demonstrated without any doubt their capabilities to do a variety of tactical and strategic missions and have put in the rear view mirror the critics who at the time of the USAF selection of the A330 MRTT argued that small was somehow better.
The USAF chose the A330 MRTT as the better tanker; and the global tanking community taking a cue from USAF professionalism followed the USAF lead, despite the US political process.
Politics has its own dynamics; but so does the stark reality of combat.
160113-N-AT895-251 PATUXENT RIVER Md. (Jan. 13, 2016) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson views the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Richardson also held an all-hands call, toured facilities and viewed aircraft and systems including the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter . (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathan Laird/Released)
A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter moves into position over the flight deck of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal for refuelling on April 20, 2016 off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Two Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft sit on the flightline at sunset in the Middle East Region during Operation OKRA. Aircraft tail swaps occur routinely across all platforms. They ensure aircraft deployed and at home location remain on scheduled maintenance cycles and comply with mandated airworthiness requirements. Credit: Australian Department of Defence
