4SQN

The new unit has effectively doubled in manning strength to just over 64 people, and has retained its four modified PC-9/A FAC trainers. Of the 64 personnel, 60 are Air Force and four are Army staff on two year postings who are either liaison officers, or work with speciality skill sets such as Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

The choice of resurrecting 4SQN for the new unit is an appropriate one, given the unit’s history of providing support to Army units in both world wars.

“4SQN was a fighter squadron in WW1 on the western front as part of the Australian Flying Corps,” WGCDR Paddison told Australian Aviation. “In WW2 it was tasked primarily as an army cooperation squadron supporting a lot of the Army units thru Papua and New Guinea whilst flying Wirraways and then Boomerangs, and was later renamed at the end of the war as the No 3 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron in 1948. So when we were looking at transitioning FACDU from a development unit into a squadron, it was logical that 4SQN was the unit it would go to.”

Training

The change from a development unit specialising in the training of what some saw as a bit of a black art, to a dedicated squadron has allowed the unit to build a more sustainable and mainstream structure. “What had occurred over recent years is FACDU became very focussed on delivering Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC) training for the ADF, and it became very busy in that side of the house,” explained WGCDR Paddison. “At the same time, JTAC training is a pretty resource-intensive activity, so the RAAF is trying to have a capability which is reasonable sustainable, as well as assuring its FAC capacity from an airborne platform is also sustained, so that led to the creation of 4SQN.”

According to WGCDR Paddison, the new unit has three main roles in the ADF. “One is ADF support; the second is the sustainment of an FAC capability whether that be from an airborne platform or by a person on the ground; and third is the delivery of JTAC training,” he said. “The way I see ADF support is, when Air Combat Group (ACG) units are doing their Close Air Support (CAS) modules or annual training, we’ll put our aircraft out there in an airborne FAC role. Additionally, and this is an area where we’re just starting to get involved in now, prior to a unit deploys overseas we’ll be involved in their mission rehearsal exercises, so providing specialist advice on how to meet their objectives for air-land integration.

The JTAC Course is a relatively brief four week course, but most students chosen for the course are already considered high performers in their field and are therefore coming from a comparatively high base already. “For JTAC training, we generally have a broad spectrum of students on intake – anyone from an RAAF F/A-18 pilot to a regular army bombardier, and we also have people from Special Forces,” WGCDR Paddison continued. “They’re nominated by their parent services and parent units, and at the moment that’s heavily driven by operational tempo we’re on.

“Over those four weeks they’ll go through the theory and application of air power in a CAS role, they’ll have a look at the various capabilities both from an ordnance and aircraft point of view, airspace de-confliction, integrating other assets such as UAVs and artillery, we also look at some of the other assets from overseas such as the AC-130.

“During the course they’ll undertake a number of practical exercises. First of all they’ll control a PC-9, then a single Hawk, then a pair of Hawks, an F-111, and in their final week they’ll be looking at more complex scenarios where they’ll be using the F/A-18 with high explosives (HE), strafing, and integrating with artillery and more complex systems such as the Hornet’s Litening AT pod and the like. It can be quite a steep learning curve for those guys who don’t have an aviation background, and for some of those guys the failure rate is reasonably high.

“From an air force perspective, we refer to the guys in the squadron as FACs; we have the FAC-A (Airborne) which is the pilot while the other guys are referred to as FAC. FAC-A is a recognition that, whilst they do the JTAC training, they’re streamed to the specialisation which is the focus of their career path. FAC-As also have an enhanced understanding of ‘weaponeering’ and of aviation theory which is more than just a run of the mill FAC.”

Whilst 4SQN comes under the management umbrella of the Amberley-based 82WG, the unit will remain based at Williamtown which offers common basing with three F/A-18 and one Hawk squadrons, as well as better access to the nearby Singleton bombing and training range.

The Aircraft

The unit’s PC-9/As are slightly modified compared to the standard aircraft operated by the RAAF Pearce-based 2FTS and East Sale’s CFS. They are fitted with higher pressure tyres to handle heavier landing weights, smoke rocket racks on the wings, and a third radio for talking with ground units. But the PC-9 has its limitations, especially since the comprehensive communications and situation awareness improvements made to the F/A-18 Hornets in recent years and the imminent arrival of the first Super Hornets, and is therefore slated for replacement in the next half decade by a new aircraft under the Air 5428 training aircraft replacement program.

“The biggest problem with the PC-9 is that guys are generating target coordinates off a map on the knee pad and looking out the window, where as there are more complex systems in the Hornet like the Litening AT pod, the (GPS guided) JDAM which requires quite detailed coordinates, and the new cockpit displays as well, it’s very difficult for a guy in a PC-9 to generate the fidelity of target coordinates required,” explained WGCDR Paddison. “Also, while we can fly at night, we can’t generate coordinates at night as we’re not Night Vision Goggles (NVG) capable and don’t have a pod. Having more advanced systems will certainly bring us an enhanced training benefit.”

To this end, the unit in both FACDU and 4SQN guises has been consulted by both Capability Development Group (CDG) and the Air 5428 project team on what they consider to be the most important attributes they require from the PC-9’s replacement. “We’ve certainly put up our requirements to do effective JTAC training, but the other issue is ensuring we can try to get some systems into that aircraft that enables it to link to where ACG is going with its future air model, the capacity of the aircraft to generate high quality target coordinates and then data transfer up to the Hornet, Super Hornet and the JSF,” said WGCDR Paddison. “We’ll obviously wait for the project team and CDG as to what they can deliver. The big challenge for us is they will need to find a platform that also supports the greater pilot training system while we’re looking at the higher end of that when we start talking about some of these more advanced systems, particularly when complex air combat is going and how we can fuse all that together.

“If you look in the marketplace now there’s a whole bunch of platforms being offered up, varying from systems and sensors that are integrated with the airframe itself to homogenous systems. It may well be that we end up with a common platform like we’ve got with the PC-9 now with some minor mods which will enable us to use it in that environment.”

Currency

Most RAAF FACs reside within 4SQN, whereas ARMY FACs come in the course and then return to their home units. “Whether a FAC or a JTAC, to remain current they need to do six ‘controls’ every six months,” WGCDR Paddison said. “Some of the controls need to be at night, and others need to include a drop of either a live round or a training round. It’s a home unit responsibility to maintain currency, and the biggest challenge they have is balancing up the other job requirements when they back to their home units.”

In order to measure the quality of the FAC/JTAC training, the RAAF has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the US Joint Forces Command to operate and train under common standards. “The ADF was the first non-US force to achieve that accreditation, and we retain quite a close relationship with the US in that sense,” WGCDR Paddison explained. “They come out every couple of years for accreditation visits, and when other school houses get audited, we’ll participate in those once or twice a year. We’ve also got good relationships with the UK, and we also keep a close watch with the US as far as their FAC-A side of the house goes as well, so there are some close synergies there.”